Great compositions/performances: ALEXANDER BORODIN – String Quartet No 2 in D major

ALEXANDER BORODIN – String Quartet No 2 in D major

Antonio Vivaldi

Published on Dec 22, 2014

FULL: Alexander Borodin’s String Quartet No 2, complete in 1881. An outstanding full performance of Borodin’s first string quartet by the Musopen String Quartet.

It was written in Zhitovo, while staying with his friend, the minor composer Nikolai Lodyzhensky. 1881, the year of its composition, also saw the composition of the symphonic poem In the Steppes of Central Asia; the quartet premiered in that year or the next.

0:00 1st Movement – Allegro moderato
9:01 2nd Movement – Scherzo Allegro
14:38 3rd Movement – Nocturne Andante
23:46 4th Movement – Finale Andante – Vivace

From Wikipedia:

Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Порфи́рьевич Бороди́н; 12 November 1833 – 27 February 1887) was a Russian Romantic composer, doctor and chemist. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five (or “The Mighty Handful”), who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music He is best known for his symphonies, his two string quartets, In the Steppes of Central Asia and his opera Prince Igor. Music from Prince Igor and his string quartets was later adapted for the US musical Kismet.

He was a notable advocate of women’s rights and a proponent of education in Russia and was a founder of the School of Medicine for Women in St. Petersburg.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexande…

Peace + love to all
——
Original download link from Musopen:
http://goo.gl/zlEmrc

Wikipedia entry for this piece:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexande…

Alexander Borodin – String Quartet No. 2: make music part of your life series

Alexander Borodin – String Quartet No. 2

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– Composer: Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (12 November 1833 — 27 February 1887)
– Performers: Borodin String Quartet
– Year of recording: 1980String Quartet No. 2 in D major, written in 1881.

00:00 – I. Allegro moderato in D major and 2/2 time
08:26 – II. Scherzo. Allegro in F major and 3/4 time
13:19 – III. Notturno (Nocturne): Andante in A major and 3/4 time
22:03 – IV. Finale: Andante — Vivace in D major and 2/4 time

Borodin’s String Quartet No. 2 in D major differs from many of the composer’s other works in two ways: it was completed quickly, during August 1881, and it lacks a published program. These two factors may be related; Borodin dedicated the quartet to his wife Ekaterina, and it was written as an evocation of when they met and fell in love in Heidelberg 20 years earlier. The composer seems to have represented himself in this quartet with the cello (he was an amateur player), while Ekaterina is portrayed by the first violin. Each of the movements is warm and blissful, the whole suggesting the depiction of a growing, deepening love.

– The first movement opens with a sweet, sighing melody, traded between first violin and cello in an almost conversational manner. Borodin and Ekaterina dominate the rest of the movement with a beguiling discourse; even the development brings effortless, serene reshapings of the exposition’s melodies, and the luminous coda rounds out the movement nicely.
– A Scherzo, written in a free sonata form, follows. The light first subject skips along gracefully, while the second subject is reminiscent of a waltz; both are gentle dances, gently handled. The development is in more decisive duple rhythm, but the recapitulation soon brings back the triple rhythm and its attendant character.
– Borodin and Ekaterina reappear in the famous Nocturne which follows. Over a luminous gauze of accompaniment from the second violin and viola, the cello introduces a long, tender, ardent melody marked cantabile ed espressivo. This melody soon passes to the first violin, which plays it over commentary from the cello. A more decisive second theme enters on both instruments, which develop it before playing the first theme in an intimate canon. The first theme lingers until the end of the movement, when in a long coda it ascends until the violin and cello play it together in a silvery thread of tone.
– The finale begins with an Andante introduction, as if unwilling to come down from the emotional heights of the previous movement, soon leading into a quicksilver, energetic Vivace, whose long coda provides a fittingly joyous conclusion to the entire work.

As love letters go, Borodin’s String Quartet No. 2 is unsurpassed; as string quartets go, it is deservedly loved.

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