Alexander Borodin - Piano Quintet; String Quartet No. 2 (Piers Lane; Goldner String Quartet)

Information

Composer: Alexander Borodin

• (01) Piano Quintet in C minor
• (04) Cello Sonata in B minor
• (07) String Quartet No. 2 in D major

Piers Lane, piano
Goldner String Quartet
Dene Olding, violin
Dimity Hall, violin
Irina Morozova, viola
Julian Smiles, cello

Date: 2017
Label: Hyperion
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68166

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Review

The comparative novelties here are Borodin’s Piano Quintet in C minor and his Cello Sonata in B minor – comparative, that is, in relation to the Second String Quartet, widely popular and widely recorded. However, neither the Quintet nor the Sonata is by any means unknown on disc. The Quintet featured compellingly on ‘Martha Argerich and Friends: Live from the Lugano Festival 2014’ with Alexander Mogilevsky as pianist (Warner, 8/15); the Cello Sonata was included alongside works by Rachmaninov and Shostakovich on a terrific 2011 disc from Alexander Chaushian and Yevgeny Sudbin (BIS, 8/11).

In fact, this new CD of the Piano Quintet, Cello Sonata and Second Quartet from the Goldner Quartet and Piers Lane replicates exactly the programme of a 2011 PraΩák Quartet release with Michal Ka√ka as soloist in the Cello Sonata and Jaromir Klepá∂ as pianist, well reviewed in Gramophone at the time (Praga Digitals, 9/11). However, newcomers intrigued by Borodin’s forays into chamber music will derive considerable satisfaction from the way that the Goldners and Piers Lane pinpoint the characteristics of the Quintet, an early, pre-First Symphony work but one that, for all its occasional nods to Mendelssohn, has the distinct imprint of folk-tinged melody that was to be one of Borodin’s mainstays.

The Cello Sonata, which has survived only in an incomplete set of parts and is known today in the reconstructed version by Mikhail Goldstein, again shows the direction in which Borodin’s melodic thinking was going: in the central movement particularly Julian Smiles and Piers Lane capture its warm romantic glow. That applies, too, to the Nocturne of the Second Quartet, a work of maturity and one that the Goldners interpret with a winning lyrical touch, well-projected energy and an instinctive feel for the musical language.

-- Geoffrey Norris, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2017/Jul/Borodin_chamber_CDA68166.htm
http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=14474
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/mar/19/borodin-piano-quintet-string-quartet-no-2-review-goldner-string-quartet-piers-lane
https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/borodin-piano-quintet-string-quartet-no-2-piers-lane-goldner-quartet/
https://www.allmusic.com/album/borodin-piano-quintet-string-quartet-no-2-mw0003014540

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Alexander Borodin (12 November 1833 – 27 February 1887) was a Russian Romantic composer of Georgian origin, as well as a doctor and a chemist.  He was one of the prominent 19th-century group of composers known as The Mighty Handful, or The Five. Borodin is best known for his symphonies, his two string quartets, the tone poem 'In the Steppes of Central Asia' and his opera 'Prince Igor'. A notable advocate of women's rights, Borodin was a promoter of education in Russia and founded the School of Medicine for Women in Saint Petersburg. As a chemist, he is best known for his work in organic synthesis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Borodin

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Piers Lane (born 8 January 1958) is an Australian classical pianist. He graduated with a Medal of Excellence from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, where his teacher was Nancy Weir. Lane's performance career has taken him to more than 40 countries, including five times as a soloist at the BBC Proms. His concerto repertoire exceeds 75 works. Lane has an extensive discography on the Hyperion label and has also recorded for EMI, Decca, BMG, Lyrita and Unicorn-Kanchana. Lane is a well-known voice on BBC Radio 3, having written and presented more than 100 programs, including a 54-part series called The Piano.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piers_Lane

http://www.pierslane.com/

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Goldner String Quartet is an Australian string quartet formed in 1995 in honour of Richard Goldner, the founder of Musica Viva Australia. The Quartet consists of Dene Olding and Dimity Hall (violins), Irina Morozova (viola; an ex-pupil of Goldner) and Julian Smiles (cello). Olding and Morozova are married, as are Hall and Smiles, and they all are members of the Australia Ensemble. The Goldners have played throughout Australia and New Zealand, as well in the UK, USA, Korea, Finland, France and Italy. In 1997 the Goldner String Quartet made its debut at the Wigmore Hall in London, and have since appeared there regularly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldner_String_Quartet

http://goldnerquartet.com/

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