Borodin Quartet

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The Borodin Quartet is a string quartet and was founded in 1945 in the former Soviet Union as the Moscow Philharmonic Quartet . It is one of the longest existing string quartets and was one of the most famous Soviet ensembles in the West even during the Cold War , as it often gave concerts in European countries and in the USA. In addition, numerous recordings were made.

The quartet was in close contact with the composer and pianist Dmitri Shostakovich , who consulted it regularly when composing his string quartets. The quartet has recorded numerous works by Russian and Western European composers on the Melodiya, Teldec, Virgin Classics, Chandos Records and Onyx labels. The quartet has recorded and performed all of the string quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich , Pjotr ​​Tschaikowski , Johannes Brahms and Ludwig van Beethoven in its concerts, as well as works by Franz Schubert , Alexander Borodin , Sergei Prokofiev , Shostakovich's student Mieczysław Weinberg and Nikolai Mjaskowski . The quartet often played with Mstislaw Rostropowitsch , Elisabeth Leonskaja , Yuri Bashmet , Natalia Gutman , Elisso Wirsaladse , Viktor Tretjakov , Christoph Eschenbach and above all with Svyatoslaw Richter .

The Borodin Quartet is characterized by an almost symphonically dense sound. "... for the Borodin Quartet the completely natural, organic flow is a trademark of its style" .

history

The Borodin Quartet was founded in 1945 as the Moscow Philharmonic Quartet . The original line-up was:

All members came from the chamber music class of Mikhail Terian , the viola player of the Comitas Quartet. Originally, Mstislaw Rostropowitsch was intended to be the cellist, but a few weeks before the foundation he resigned in favor of Valentin Alexandrowitsch Berlinski . After two years, Nina Barschai replaced the second violinist Vladimir Rabeij , followed by Jaroslav Alexandrov in 1952 . In 1953, Rudolf Barschai left the quartet in favor of his conducting career. He was succeeded by Dmitri Shebalin . This line-up formed the “Original” Borodin Quartet for the next 20 years.

The quartet met Shostakovich for the first time in 1946 and became the ideal interpreter of his 15 string quartets. The performances of these quartets in concert halls around the world made Shostakovich's string quartets and the Borodin quartet famous. As one of the most famous chamber music ensembles in the Soviet Union, the Borodin Quartet played at the funerals of Josef Stalin and Sergei Prokofiev , who both died on March 5, 1953.

In 1955 the quartet named itself after Alexander Borodin , one of the founders of Russian chamber music . The Borodin Quartet was one of the first ensembles to play outside the Soviet Union. B. 1955 in the GDR, then in Czechoslovakia and finally even in the USA.

After 20 years with the same line-up, difficult times followed in the 1970s: Rostislav Dubinsky emigrated to the West in 1976, Jaroslav Alexandrov resigned for health reasons. Valentin Alexandrowitsch Berlinski, who is considered the soul of the quartet, was succeeded by Mikhail Kopelman and Andrei Abramenkov as 1st and 2nd violin. Berlinski insisted that the quartet withdraw for two years until the old Borodin sound was achieved again.

In a very short time, the quartet was able to build on its old successes and its concerts and recordings were positively received worldwide. After the end of the Soviet Union in 1989, the quartet intensified its concert activities in the West. After celebrating the quartet's 50th anniversary, Dmitri Schebalin resigned for reasons of age and was replaced by Igor Naidin (a student of Yuri Bashmet ). Ruben Aharonian became the new 1st violinist when Mikhail Kopelman left the quartet. In 2007, Valentin Alexandrowitsch Berlinski left the Borodin Quartet and was replaced by Vladimir Balshin . Berlinski stayed with the quartet as artistic advisor.

Despite the many personnel changes, the current line-up was able to maintain the typical Borodin sound and style.

For its 60th birthday, the Borodin Quartet performed the complete string quartets by Ludwig van Beethoven in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Wiener Musikverein . Further gala performances took place in Moscow (January 2005), in the London Wigmore Hall and in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Paris (May 2005). Chandos Records released Beethoven's entire string quartets as an anniversary edition.

Members

Current occupation

Former members

Important recordings

The Borodin Quartet received the 1998 Gramophone Award for recording the string quartets and Souvenir de Florence by Pyotr Tchaikovsky . The first recording for the Onyx label with works by Borodin, Schubert, Webern and Rachmaninov was nominated in 2005 for a Grammy for best chamber music recording. The string quartets Nos. 3, 7, 8 by Dmitri Shostakovich were awarded the Edison Prize 1992, the two string quartets by Alexander Borodin (EMI) with the Gramophone Award 1992. The piano quintets op. 5 and op. 81 (with Svyatoslav Richter) 1986 nominated for the Gramophone Award.

Web links

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  1. ↑ a b c d David Nice: Like Swimming in God's Music - The Borodin Quartet plays Beethoven ( Memento of the original from October 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Journal of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna , April 2004. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.musikverein.at
  2. ↑ a b Obituary of Valentin Berlinsky The Daily Telegraph , December 23, 2008, accessed December 23, 2008.
  3. ↑ a b c Fox, Margalit. Valentin Berlinsky, Mainstay Cellist of the Borodin Quartet, Dies at 83 , The New York Times , December 25, 2008, accessed January 14, 2009.