Borodin: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2

Alexander Borodin (Composer), Shostakovich Quartet (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Shostakovich Quartet
• Composer: Alexander Borodin
• Audio CD (April 26, 1994)
• Label: Olympia
• ASIN: B000003WAG
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,698,352 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. String Quartet No. 1 in A major: I. Moderato- Allegro

2. String Quartet No. 1 in A major: II. Andante Con Moto

3. String Quartet No. 1 in A major: III. Scherzo. Prestissimo

4. String Quartet No. 1 in A major: IV. Andante- Allegro Risoluto

5. String Quartet No. 2 in D major: I. Allegro Moderato

6. String Quartet No. 2 in D major: II. Scherzo. Allegro

7. String Quartet No. 2 in D major: III. Nocturne. Andante

8. String Quartet No. 2 in D major: IV. Finale. Andante

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars State of art recordings!, August 23, 2007

By 

Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Borodin: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 (Audio CD)

When the famous Russian psychologist Pavlov compared Borodin' s amalgamation of scientific and artistic natures to Goethe and Leonardo da Vinci, he was not exaggerating at all. Borodin spoke three languages German, English and French, his interests ranged from chemistry (he discovered the glycolic acid) and alchemy, music (cello ) and drawing, modeling and engraving, botany and zoology, crystallography and anatomy.

His music constitutes the perfect blending of vivid style of harmony, enrooted in the purest folk tradition, ornamented and constructed into a classical formal balance.

The main theme of the First Movement of the First Quartet was borrowed from Beethoven's Quartet Op.. 130; but the rest is magnificently built, with expansive harmonic lines and vibrant emotion from start to finish; the lovable Andante, the joyful scherzo and the energetic Finale justifies plainly to listen it over and over again.

For many emotive reasons, the Second Quartet remains in my memories since I as a child, it's plenty of a joyous and if you may naïve lyricism, (it was composed to his wife to celebrate his twenty years of engagement) but it's so loaded of surprising vitality and melodic richness that, once you listen it, you will be engaged by its lovely inspiration and mesmerizing handle of sublime tonalities of arresting beauty.
I don' t hesitate to qualify this Op. as Borodin's masterpiece,; moreover I have not found yet another other similar work in this genre capable to match with this one in which concerns to this fiery vitality and involving lyricism.

The Third Movement is the famous Nocturne, that it has been used as musical curtain in countless romantic films all over the world, and popularized for so many ensembles of easy to listen music such Carmen Dragon, Mantovani, Paul Mauriat, Frank Pourcel and so many others prestigious salon orchestras.

The sound is magnificent and the level of these performances is first-rate. Since I got it in 1997 , it has become one of my favorite version as well as one of the most refreshing and spring chamber works ever made.

Don' t miss it.!