Born in 1833 in St. Petersburg, Borodin was the illegitimate
son of the Russian (Georgian) Prince Gedianov and his 24 year
old mistress Madame Antonova, the wife of an Army Doctor. In
accordance with the aristocratic convention of the time Borodin
was registered at birth not as the son of the Prince but the
lawful son of Porphyry Borodin who was one of the household
servants. Borodin received a first-class education and showed
that he was a very talented child, not just musically but particularly
in chemistry in which he specialised. By his teens the precocious
Borodin could speak German, French, Italian and English and
was able to play the piano, flute and cello. It is said that
Borodin did not receive any formal lessons in composition until
1863 when he was taught by the eminent Mily Balakirev.
Despite being recognised as an accomplished composer
Borodin graduated from the Academy of Medicine in St. Petersburg.
Qualified as a physician Borodin also earned his professional
living as a chemist becoming a Professor at the Medico-Surgical
Academy. He devoted himself to scientific research and was particularly
acclaimed for his work in the field of aldehydes. As a consequence
of the divided priorities in his life, music took a back seat
for Borodin and he was not as prolific a composer as many of
his contemporaries. However many of Borodin’s works are of such
high quality that they are considered masterpieces of Russian
nationalist music.
Borodin became a member of a group of contemporary Russian
classical composers called The Mighty Handful (aka, The Russian
Five) who were brought together under the leadership of guiding
star, Mily Balakirev with the aim of producing a specifically
Russian Nationalistic music rather than imitating older European
music. The other members of The Russian Five were César Cui,
Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Before them,
Mikhail Glinka with his operas and orchestral tone poems had
gone some way towards producing a Russian nationalistic style
based on folk-songs, dances and old church music etc. The Mighty
Handful continued Glinka’s accomplishments by drawing their
stimulation, inspiration and strength from Russian culture such
as history, legends, poetry, literature and folk music and folk-art.
Borodin’s masterwork is undoubtedly the folk-opera Prince
Igor which he commenced in 1869. At the time of his death
some eighteen years later Borodin had not finished the score
that contains the famous Polovtsian Dances. This is often
performed as a stand-alone work, and probably constitutes his
best known composition. Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov successfully
undertook the project to complete and orchestrate the score
of Prince Igor from Borodin’s drafts.
Under the supervision of his mentor Balakirev, Borodin
composed his Symphony No. 1 in e flat major between 1862
to 1867. Balakirev conducted the première of the First Symphony
in 1867 in St. Petersburg to considerable acclaim. Borodin received
substantial encouragement from Franz Liszt who had been impressed
with the symphony. Owing to his influence several performances
of the work were given in Germany.
The First Symphony went a considerable way towards establishing
a general pattern that came to be identified with the characteristic
‘Russian’ symphony. The score introduces Borodin’s own distinctive
compositional traits amongst those his fascination for and utilisation
of various oriental and exotic motifs, recurring themes and
colouring that run through the music. The overall outline of
the First Symphony comprises an expansive opening movement,
then a scherzo, in this case energetic, punctuated by
pizzicati from the lower strings. The third movement
is a languorous yet concise andante and the work concludes
with a celebratory finale with a pronounced national
flavour.
Borodin took six years to write his Second Symphony
in b minor, op.5 during which time he was also engaged on
his epic folk opera, Prince Igor. The symphony and opera
are like sister and brother as not only are they similar in
style and character the symphony uses material originally planned
for the opera. The Second Symphony is heroic in mood with an
oriental flavour in its orchestral and harmonic colourations.
The work was a failure at its première in St. Petersburg in
1877 and two years later Borodin made certain revisions to the
score using lighter textures to the orchestration and the subsequent
performance under the baton of Rimsky-Korsakov was an unreserved
success. Franz Liszt arranged a performance of the work in Germany
in 1880 which was also a triumph, and this brought Borodin fame
outside Russia.
Borodin’s friend and eminent critic and journalist Vladimir
Stassov (1824-1906) who was a champion of the Russian nationalism
movement once described the Second symphony as a picture of
feudal Russia, giving the work a title of ‘The Bogatyrs’ after
a ‘bogatyr’ a mythical Russian giant. Stassov saw the opening
movement as a description of the gathering of ancient Russian
warrior Princes. In the scherzo Stassov heard the songs
of the ‘bayan’ the old Russian troubadour and the music of the
finale like a banquet of old Russian heroes in which
the festivities were enlivened by music from traditional folk
instruments.
In 1886 Borodin started work on a Third Symphony in
a minor that was left incomplete at his death in 1887. The moderato
assai and scherzo movements were later completed
and orchestrated from Borodin’s sketches by Glazunov who also
incorporated certain music Borodin had intended for a string
quartet and from Prince Igor.
In this RCA Red Seal release Iranian-born conductor and
composer Loris Tjeknavorian and the National Philharmonic Orchestra
play to a high standard throughout in performances that come
across as warm, cultivated and unaffected. The brass and woodwind
are in fine form with a string sound that is warm rather than
rich. I particularly enjoyed how maestro Tjeknavorian is able
to mould melodic lines with a ‘Russian’ warmth and adopt moderate
yet resilient rhythms. I would have preferred rather more energy
and slightly quicker speeds in the allegros although
these are well performed readings that are most appealing. The
sound quality from the RCA Red Seal engineers on this 1977 recording
is most acceptable.
There are numerous accounts of individual Borodin symphonies
in the catalogues and according to my estimation there are five
alternative sets currently available that contain all three
works. I am familiar with the performances on the Russian Season
label from the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra under Mark Ermler on
RUS288169, on Naxos 8.550238 the Czecho-Slovak RSO under Stephen
Gunzenhauser and from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under Andrew
Davis on SB2K62406. However, I have not heard the interpretations
of the three symphonies from the three conductors Ashkenazy,
Martinon and Ansermet respectively on Decca 4556322 and the
version on ASV from the Rome RAI Orchestra under Jose Serebrier
on CDDCA706. My personal recommendation in these three symphonies
is a set from my own collection, that at the time of writing
does not currently seem to be available, from the Gothenburg
Symphony Orchestra under Neeme Järvi on DG 4357572. These fine
performances under Estonian maestro Järvi are strong and colourful
and are so excellently recorded.
Michael
Cookson
see also Review
by Rob Barnett
