These are performances on the largest scale…although of course only four instruments are playing, you have to remind yourself that you’re not listening to a symphony orchestra…I have found, so far, that these renderings impress me rather than, as is more usually the case with these works, move me, but I shall certainly listen to them again and often, because I am struck by the sheer energy and belief that goes into the playing.

At every turn of these engrossing and deeply considered readings, I like how the Brodskys ask questions of the music, of the listener too...Transitions are a continual pleasure of this set, always driven by something more than tempo markings...the Brodskys’s playing faithfully follows Beethoven into extreme terrain, not least in a radiant 20-minute account of the ‘Heiliger Dankgesang’.

There is no shortage of outstanding recordings of these summits of the quartet repertory...But while the Brodsky versions may not threaten the positions of any of the established great sets, they certainly have their own distinctive virtues, and the highlights reach very high indeed. Technically, these performances are immaculate, so it all comes down to a question of personal taste.