Brahm's g- minor piano quartet

oh, is it the one with arthur balsam??? I don't know that one. yes, performance all the way.

Sugarbrie, does Trampler wake the Beaux Arts a little bit compared to their trio recordings? (I don't mean to demean the Beaux Arts, but have found them a little sleepy in the past when they are on their own... even in live performance. For example, my favorite recording with them is the Schumann Pno. Quartet with Sam Rhodes. I find Trampler often a wonderful chamber musician in older recordings i.e. Budapest Mozart viola quintets)

You sure know your chamber music, yes Arthur Balsam. But like I say, I'm not happy with the very-difficult-to-pull-off opening to the 2nd movement. But better than the other 2 I've heard. Big turn off. Its like the Debussy/Ravel Quartets, if I hear too many "slips" at important junctures, I give up on it. As well the recording is poor, so holds back the overall performance. You may get a better sound on it with your system. You may want to wait a few more years til some new recording comes along.

thanks tweekerman, actually, that's the one that I need that I totally forgot about. Believe it or not, I actually like those live Bridge recordings. I heard the samples at their site... It's definitely my cup of tea. I actually think that it is Balsam at his best, whereas on other sonata recordings (he is best known as a top flight "accompanist") I find him a bit wooden and static.
I think the main probolem about these piano quartets are that they are so damn difficult and complex. Very hard to pull off.

Absolutely, you called it right on the difficulty on getting this composition to really dance. Every recording I've mentioned has some awkward moments. And your intuition is correct about this Bridge recording, the fiery piano part in the opening 3rd movement is taken much better by Balsam than the legendary Gilels, though the tone of Gilels piano is much better than Balsam's, and Gilels does have some a nice touch in other parts. You are like me, in that recording quality takes second place vs the more important performance of the artists.