The Glazer-Fine Arts edition (Concert-Disc) is a model of lucidity and organization. It is, moreover, a perfectly integrated ensemble effort. But having lived with the disc for some time now, I find the performance less exciting than either Schnabel's or Fleisher's (whose superb performance with the Budapest Quartet has still to be recorded) and a good deal less filled with humor than Curzon's. Aeschbacher's work is very much akin to Schnabel's, but the sound on his Decca disc is dated, and you will have a hard time locating a copy of it.

The Hephzibah Menuhin-Amadeus Quartet (Angel) and Victor Babin-Festival Quartet (RCA Victor) editions give us superlative string playing (both in symphonic style) crippled by unimaginative piano playing. (Babin has acquired some of Schnabel's keyboard manner, but his playing is of limited insight.) Badura-Skoda-Vienna Konzerthaus (Westminster) and Demus-Schubert Quartet (Deutsche Grammophon) are both warm toned, pleasantly lyrical, but rather slack and tensionless. Helmut Roloff, playing with a group of musicians from the Bayreuth Ensemble, gives a sturdy reading, in much the same vein as that of the last mentioned pianists. Telefunken has accorded him beautiful sound, and this bargain-priced disc (it sells for $2.98) is worthy of consideration.

Returning once again to the Schnabel reissue, I am beguiled anew by the magnificence of this pianist's musical penetration. Here is truly a ``Great Recording of the Century,'' and its greatness is by no means diminished by the fact that it is not quite perfect. This recording surely belongs in everyone's collection. Must records always sound like records?