String Quartets tend
to be long-lived. I haven’t done extensive
research but one need only mention a
few – Amadeus, Quartetto Italiano, Budapest,
Juilliard, Galimir – as ample proof.
The Borodin may be the most enduring
of them all, celebrating sixty years
in 2005. Of course personnel change
but Valentin Berlinsky has remained
a pillar of strength ever since the
beginning and there have been relatively
few alterations. Originally they were
the Moscow Philharmonic Quartet; their
present name did not arrive until 1955.
Of course they have championed Borodin’s
music and it is a fitting tribute to
him – and to their anniversary – to
begin and end this disc with works by
him. Another composer who has played
an important part for the Borodins is
Shostakovich. Even though they were
not to premiere his quartets, his music
has been woven into the ensemble’s performance
history.
The last time I heard
them – in Stockholm a little more than
four years ago – they ended the concert
with Shostakovich’s last quartet (No.
15). Before they played it the audience
were explicitly asked to remain in silence
after the last chords hade died away.
They played the music on the little
stage at the Grünewald Hall, only
lit by candle-light on the music stands,
discreetly blowing them out before leaving
the hall in complete darkness and the
audience were holding their breath.
When they finally returned, after what
seemed like an eternity, it was as if
the applause would never stop. The bleak
music of Shostakovich’s last years always
leaves a deep impression in its inevitability,
far removed from the mood of Borodin’s
D major quartet, so full of profuse
melodies and rhythmic life. At the same
time there are darker streaks in the
fabric, notably the empty-sounding Andante
opening of the Finale. There the viola
and cello play in unison (bar 4-9) and
they play what is, in effect, a 12-note
row, albeit not fully developed and
returning to the key-note D. This movement
in particular is much more "modern"
and daring than Anton Webern’s Langsamer
Satz (tr. 8), written by a 22-year-old
composer, still firmly rooted in a romantic
idiom, which he was soon to abandon
to become a guru in the 12-note stakes.
Returning to Borodin’s
D major quartet it is easy to feel the
players’ deep sympathy for and understanding
of music that they must have played
literally hundreds of times. Despite
this familiarity their execution has
a freshness that makes one believe that
they have only recently discovered it.
It is not a virtuoso reading. They do
not aim to break speed records; in the
main they are relaxed and let the music
speak. Rubén Aharonian’s warmly
romantic violin spins the long melodic
phrases of the opening Allegro moderato
with elegance and exquisite phrasing.
Borodin’s score is littered with dynamic
markings, which they observe, and add
a few more, that the composer probably
regarded as unnecessary to write in
since he trusted the musicality of the
players.
The elegance of the
playing is omnipresent, but there is
also power in the Animato (from
bar 86). Hearing this quartet again
after some time one can only marvel
at the inventiveness of the writing
and the melodic inspiration. Take for
example the Baubles, Bangles and
Beads theme in the second movement,
from Meno mosso (bar 29), with
the cello part creating a nervous undercurrent,
over which the violins weave the melody
in parallel thirds, elegantly sweeping.
The famous Notturno, the kernel
of the composition, has the ethereal
first violin soaring beautifully over
the murmuring viola from bar 24.
The rest of the disc
is something of a retrospect, dipping
into favourite compositions, not exactly
miniatures but not full-scale works
either. Tchaikovsky’s celebrated Andante
cantabile is from a string quartet
that is well worth hearing complete
– I still treasure an LP with the Amadeus
Quartet, coupled with Verdi’s only surviving
quartet. Even during the composer’s
lifetime it was the slow movement that
people wanted to hear. Tchaikovsky arranged
it for string orchestra and it was so
eagerly requested that he complained
about this in his diary. It is played
here softly, dreamily. The Romance,
written by a 16-year-old Rachmaninov
in harness with a scherzo, not played
here, was central to his career as being
among his earliest music performed in
public. Though never published during
his lifetime, these pieces have been
performed not least by the Borodin Quartet
who have played them since 1951. The
Romance is sweetly melancholy.
Schubert’s Quartettsatz
D703 is one of many unfinished compositions
in his oeuvre, or rather the movement
is finished and one of his masterpieces
but the rest of the intended quartet
was never to be, apart from 41 bars
of an andante. What we have is one of
the most dramatic of his quartets, worthy
of a place next to the A minor and D
minor of roughly four years later.
In the spring of 1905
Anton Webern spent a holiday in Lower
Austria and this reputedly inspired
him to write the Langsamer Satz.
It must have been a beautiful stay –
or was it the presence of his future
wife that provided the real inspiration?
There is a passage from ca. 7:30 with
pizzicato accompaniments. The heartbeats
from the cello have always made me think
of deep love, deep passion. The last
minute of the piece is so moving, like
two lovers intimately whispering.
The encore is
a little delicious tit-bit with the
accompaniment inspired, no doubt, by
the Spanish guitar.
One of the finest string
quartet discs I have heard for some
time with all the music played con
amore.
Göran Forsling
Borodin Quartet 
