Over the years a good many of Tippett's admirers, the harder-up ones especially, have been grateful to the Fidelio Quartet for so clearly and so affordably revealing the stature of his first three quartets: seminal works in his development, the scenes of his encounters with Beethoven and of his trying-on for size of sonata form and fugue (their version of the Second Quartet, coupled with Delius's Quartet is still available: PRT GSGC2064, 6/70). They are more than competent performances, expressive in cantabile, alert in the complex rhythms of the fast movements, and with only the occasional moment of doggedness or insecurity to betray how very difficult these pieces are to play. The recordings, however, were never especially satisfactory—they are close, harsh and wiry—and by present-day standards they are scarcely adequate. The Lindsay Quartet's readings (L'Oiseau-Lyre DSLO10, 12/75) are a good deal more expensive, but for the extra outlay you will get far recorded sound, performances of greater expressive range and more sustained eloquence and, on a record that plays for over 70 minutes, the Second Quartet as a bonus.'