Sound quality

The reverse is certainly true: a poor recording can turn even a good performance into a bad listening experience.

The 'direct' way, possibly. Some performances are so bad that even being there in person, in a good seat, is no redeeming feature; quite the opposite. A 'competent but pedestrian' performance can turn into (at least) an interesting recording and musical experience - particularly for orchestral performances, even if the overall performance is so-so, individual players/singers may still shine in a good recording.

Just my 2 cents.

Au contraire: a great performance can be moving even if the recording is suboptimal. A bad performance is bad regardless of recording or even live experience.

I remember a Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra performance in the Baroque series, where a full size piano was used instead of a harpsichord [LACO has an exquisite hapsichordist on hand, so this was a choice]. The pianist did not even keep the lid on (double entendre) and went for maximum dB levels, so literally hammered the fine plucking of the theorbo by master Schneiderman to death. So much for "concertare", playing together. It was a viscerally painful experience, and the audience loved it with a standing ovation as it was loud. 

Concert hall was quite nice at the Colburn School. So no issue with acoustics. Just a self-absorbed ivory tickler ruined it all.