Alexander Borodin - String Quartets (Borodin Quartet)

Information

Composer: Alexander Borodin

• (01) String Quartet No. 1 in A major
• (05) String Quartet No. 2 in D major

Borodin Quartet
Mikhail Kopelman, violin
Andrei Abramenkov, violin
Dmitri Shebalin, viola
Valentin Berlinsky, cello

Date: 1980
Label: EMI

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Review

The Borodin Quartet's Melodiya recording of Borodin's own two quartets was the winner of a Gramophone Award in 1983, earning more votes than any operatic or choral issue. Lionel Salter, in his original review of the LP, declared that he did not expect to hear the two works ''more persuasively played'', and in September 1986, SJ described the recording as ''a strong contender for CD transfer''. I can only add my praise for these magnificent performances to that of my colleagues, the Russian ensemble (with a different first and second violin from the team that recorded Borodin's Second Quartet for Decca over 20 years ago now deleted—but with the same viola and cello) have the music in their blood and match the need for flexibility of phrasing and rhythm with a unanimity of articulation and intonation that is quite staggering.

Not the least valuable feature of the EMI issue, to my mind, is the fact that it offers both of Borodin's quartets: the less familiar No. 1 in A (composed between 1873 and 1879) as well as the popular No. 2 in D of 1881, with the celebrated Notturno as its third movement.

-- Robin Golding, Gramophone [5/1988]

More reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/Borodin-String-Quartet-No-Major/dp/B000002ROX

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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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Borodin Quartet is a string quartet that was founded in 1945 in the then Soviet Union. It is one of the world's longest lasting string quartets. The quartet was one of the Soviet Union's best known in the West during the Cold War era, through recordings as well as concert performances in the United States and Europe. The quartet had a close relationship with composer Dmitri Shostakovich, and also performed with the pianist Sviatoslav Richter on many occasions. Their recordings include works by a wide range of composers on the Melodiya, Teldec, Virgin Records, and Chandos Records labels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borodin_Quartet

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