Shostakovich: String Quartets Nos. 1, 8 & 14
Borodin String Quartet
The playing of the current Borodin Quartet members has a molten intensity in this disc, which exudes authority.
Shostakovich: String Quartets Nos. 1, 8 & 14
Borodin String Quartet
Purchase product
The playing of the current Borodin Quartet members has a molten intensity in this disc, which exudes authority.
About
The original Borodin Quartet was founded in 1945 in the Soviet Union and this release marks the Quartet’s 70th anniversary. They enjoyed a close relationship with Shostakovich, and often worked with him as a new quartet was written (and they also recorded the cycle).
Now, a new line-up, though still one that bears the characteristic Borodin sound (large, almost symphonic in scope and with a very distinctive way of phrasing), starts a new cycle with works from very different periods in Shostakovich’s music life [No. 1 from 1938, the ever-popular No. 8 from 1960 and No. 14 from 1972 (begun in Aldeburgh when the composer was staying there with Benjamin Britten)]. This album features the three key quartets, including the most popular (No. 8).
Contents and tracklist
- Borodin Quartet (stringquartet), Ruben Aharonian (violin), Sergei Lomovsky (violin), Igor Naidin (viola), Vladimir Balshin (cello)
- Recorded: 2015-01-19
- Recording Venue: Concert Hall of The Victor Popov Academy of Choral Arts, Moscow
- Borodin Quartet (stringquartet), Ruben Aharonian (violin), Sergei Lomovsky (violin), Igor Naidin (viola), Vladimir Balshin (cello)
- Recorded: 2015-01-19
- Recording Venue: Concert Hall of The Victor Popov Academy of Choral Arts, Moscow
- Borodin Quartet (stringquartet), Ruben Aharonian (violin), Sergei Lomovsky (violin), Igor Naidin (viola), Vladimir Balshin (cello)
- Recorded: 2015-01-19
- Recording Venue: Concert Hall of The Victor Popov Academy of Choral Arts, Moscow
- Borodin Quartet (stringquartet), Ruben Aharonian (violin), Sergei Lomovsky (violin), Igor Naidin (viola), Vladimir Balshin (cello)
- Recorded: 2015-01-19
- Recording Venue: Concert Hall of The Victor Popov Academy of Choral Arts, Moscow
Awards and reviews
28th March 2015
The playing of the current Borodin Quartet members has a molten intensity in this disc, which exudes authority.
9th April 2015
What I like most about this recording, besides the quartet’s gorgeously rich sound, is the straight-up sincerity of the playing...Nothing is overstated or hysterical...it’s true that the Borodins don’t do much by way of wit or acerbic bite, but their the sobriety is hugely dignified.
12th April 2015
[the complete cycle is] a glorious prospect, judging by this first offering. The naivety of Quartet No 1 gives way to the autobiographical, despairing No 8, the Borodins reaching right down into the depths of its bitter universal torment before offering some relief with the whimsy and warmth of No 14. Prepare to be profoundly stirred.
18th April 2015
Of course today’s line-up never knew Shostakovich, but they have inherited their predecessors’ profound expressive power.
