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Although aristocratically Old-World in manners, the members of the group were thorough democrats when it came to running the quartet. They shared its profits equally—at their financial peak in the '50s, they made about $40,000 a year each—and put all disputes to a vote. Deciding interpretive questions at rehearsals, they avoided 2-to-2 deadlocks by assigning one player two votes for the music at hand. Roisman could sometimes swing a vote his way, even when in the minority. He would say quietly: "Doesn't Mozart get a vote?"
Bridge at Rehearsals. Occasionally, the group could also have fun together. Alexander would cut up a pinup photo, insert the tantalizing slices between the pages of his colleagues' music, then watch for the reaction when the others discovered the picture halfway through a concert. During a two-year period just before World War II, the men showed up every day for rehearsal, but never practiced a note. Kroyt's daughter accidentally discovered why and reported back to her mother: "Momma, they're playing bridge."
The Budapest Quartet probably hit an interpretive peak in the late 1930s and early '40s. Nothing reflected that better than its way with the mysterious, deeply spiritual last quartets of Beethoven. The ensemble's recordings of that period captured their particularly expansive style, in which they seemed to move as much above the music as with it. Although they lost some of their ease and sparkle in later years, they never sank below a remarkably high level of interpretive excellence. Even on an off night, they played with exactitude of tempo and emotional involvement that few other ensembles could match—the reflection of so many years of living together and apart.
The quartet has not played in public since February 1967, when Mischa developed a pinched nerve in his spine. Concerts were canceled indefinitely, pending his recovery; despite a recent operation, his left side remains partially paralyzed. Roisman has had a heart condition since 1960, and Kroyt is now recovering from an operation, but there was never any thought of resuming without Mischa. The music ended, the members of the quartet are satisfied with what the years have given them.