This set of the complete quartets was recorded
between 1978 and 1983 in Moscow. Borodin collectors will know
better than to confuse it with the earlier - incomplete - traversal
of Quartets 1-13 that has been made
widely available by Chandos review.
Not only is this later cycle complete
but it includes the Piano Quintet with
Richter and a splendid performance of
the Two Pieces for String Octet where
they were joined by their colleagues
from the Prokofiev Quartet.
Opinions will vary
over the superiority of the respective
sets, albeit we have to take the Chandos
set as a necessarily partial achievement.
The later group underwent transitional
moves during its recording and that
made for a certain tentativeness in
their approach. The Borodin Quartet
at the time of this cycle of recordings
comprised Mikhail Kopelman, Andrei Abramenkov,
Dmitri Shebalin and Valentin Berlinsky.
Readers will know that both first and
second violinists, Dubinsky and Yaroslav
Alexandrov, had emigrated necessitating
a full scale re-learning of the quartets
by the revamped group. Differences between
Borodin I and Borodin II have long been
noted. For me they centre on the concentration
of tonal variety at slow tempo and the
visceral nature of some of the playing.
The most obvious place to start is the
Eighth Quartet which receives a performance
of definably greater intensity and cumulative
expressive weight from Borodin I. There's
a slight air of a generic response in
the later reading, though one would
not want to over-stress it. But it's
clear that the process of absorption
in which Dubinsky and Alexandrov had
played so conspicuous a part had not
been fully realised by the new teaming.
As a result the slow movements don't
quite reveal their full stature; the
players tend to make typically warm
and beautiful gestures but their tonal
warmth does not fully equate penetrating
stylistic acumen.
I am going to take the slightly unusual step of
concentrating on the last quartets and contrasting Borodin II with
the recordings of the Taneyev Quartet - the group that premiered
No.15 - and the Beethoven, whose long
association with the quartets garnered
many dedications from the composer.
I've covered much of the same ground
in my review of two single CD Melodiya
releases by the Beethoven, so those
who may have read that review should
guard against déjà vu.
The comments I make on the limitations
of Borodin II apply to the corpus of
the works, with the proviso of course
that the first incarnation of the Borodin
(on Chandos) only recorded Quartets
1-13. And that the new Melodiya box
of Borodin II sees them join forces
with Richter for the Piano Quintet Op.57
and the Prokofiev Quartet for the Two
Pieces for string Octet Op.11. Speaking
of the former the Piano Quintet contrasts
powerfully with the heady and driven
performance generated by the composer
and the Beethoven Quartet, the group
that had given the premiere. Nevertheless
Richter and the Borodin themselves generate
just the right balance between the lissomly
reflective and the percussively attacking.
The beautifully balanced string weight
in the Fugue is a constant pleasure
and a cause for admiration as well.
Melancholy and tactile the five musicians
evince very much the right feel for
this majestic work. As noted the composer's
own recording is a necessary acquisition
but the addition of this performance
in the Melodiya set is a veritable bonus.
To put it broadly and
somewhat crudely the Beethoven Quartet
performances, also newly released on
Melodiya, stand at a rough mid point
tonally between the warmly vibrated
intensity of the Borodin II and the
bleak leanness of the Taneyev. In the
case of the Eleventh Quartet the Beethoven
take a considerably quicker view of
the music than the Borodin in their
traversals, though their tempo relationships
are much more stable than that of the
Taneyev. Each group takes a radically
different stance, vesting each movement
with a profoundly different sense of
weight and sensibility. Listening to
each group is a richly rewarding if
sometimes frustrating affair. When it
comes to the final movement the Beethoven
is decisive, quick and almost brutal
in its response. The Taneyev remains
raw and edgy-toned with an uneasy rasp
to its corporate sonority. Borodin II,
predictably, takes the most horizontal
view, richly keening of tone.
The two-movement Twelfth
was dedicated to the Beethoven's first
violinist Dmitri Tsiganov, the man responsible
for the violin and piano arrangements
of the Preludes. It strikes me that
Borodin II, notwithstanding their close
association with this repertoire, cedes
to the Beethoven in matters of tempo
and direction. The intensity and angular
folkloric element seems to be to be
better integrated in the Beethoven's
recording. And the long second movement
works better as an architectural entity
as well in the hands of Shostakovich's
most intimate associates; nor do they
respond to the rather martial goose-stepping
of the Taneyev whose metrical drive
sounds hard-pressed.
The Thirteenth Quartet
is once more a locus of profoundly differing
approaches. It's wise not to be prescriptive or definitive about
such matters as well. The Taneyev race through it in 15:22, the
Borodin in 1981 take a far more sedate 19:56 - a dramatically
different, radical difference - and the Beethoven
in 1971, at around the time of the premiere,
took 18:10. The Taneyev sound ruthless
and rebellious. The Beethoven is more
reflective and mournful. And the Borodin,
1981 vintage, find something spiritual,
almost a sense of piety, in the music.
Their intense raptness is profoundly
impressive with blanched tone and bleached
feeling alternating with great string
weight. Nevertheless the Beethoven gave
the premiere of a work dedicated to
Vadim Borisovsky, the quartet's violist
who died in 1972, and their greater
incision brings a moving sense of direction
and proportion to the quartet.
The Beethoven approaches
the opening of No.14 with something
like joy, the lightly sprung rhythm
meshing with lightly bowed and wristy
affection. The Taneyev enjoy a darker
melos, more abrupt, and the Borodin
1981 vintage less easy going, more urgent
and rhythmically decisive. The Beethoven
contrasts this with by far the most
aristocratic and Mravinskian Adagio
I've ever heard. It makes no superfluous
gestures, cuts to the quick but makes
its point with decisive energy. This
patrician reading finds no favour with
the warmth of the Borodin or the tonal
austerity of the Taneyev.
The last quartet gives
all players a problem in extrapolating
its six adagios. Here, once again, the
Beethoven seems to me to reach into
the music as few have or could. The
opening movement, that long unbroken
span, is unfolded with a beauty tinged
with resignation. The depth is palpable,
the intensity generated entirely musically.
By now Tsiganov was the only original
member still playing in the quartet
but they'd acquired an excellent cellist
in Yevgeni Altman. The Borodin always
played this beautifully but there's
something just a touch too keen about
their playing here and intensity dissipates
through over promotion of expressive
weight. The Taneyev play well but there's
little of the Beethoven's beauty, though
you'll find their second movement uncompromisingly
stark and aggressive. The Beethoven
by direct comparison are the more human,
the Borodin taking something of an equidistant
position. When we come to the final
movement we find these same differences
of approach. The Borodin is marvellous
and catches the passionate strangeness
of it. But the Beethoven
find something of a Janaček-like
sweep and an altogether graver protocol.
Though the Taneyev premiered this work,
and their performance merits the closest
study, they don't quite manage to mediate
between its acerbity and reflection
quite as well as the other two
groups.
So, in conclusion, and the only logical
conclusion I can reach in the circumstances, is that Borodin
admirers need both sets; the partial Chandos cycle and this one.
The Melodiya box is a card affair and rather prosaically done - you may find
individual discs slipping out so take
care. If you have to have one cycle
and can augment from other performances
Borodin I is the more incisively and
penetratingly done and the one to prefer,
even acknowledging the missing last
two quartets.
Jonathan Woolf
AVAILABLE AGAIN
Dmitri
SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)
Kondrashin conducts the Fifteen Symphonies
Now
with The Sun Shines on Our Motherland
op. 90 The Execution of Stepan Razin
op. 119 Violin Concerto Nr.2 (with David
Oistrakh) Artur Eisen, bass (13); Evgenia
Tselovalnik (sop) (14); Evgeny Nesterenko,
(bass) (14) Choirs of the Russian Republic/Alexander
Yourlov (2, 3, 13) 
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra/Kirill
Kondrashin Rec. Moscow 19 July 1972
(1); 29 Nov 1972 (2); 12 Nov 1972 (3);
1962 (4); 27 Mar 1968 (5); 15 Sept 1967
(6); 7 Mar 1975 (7); 4 Nov 1967 (8);
20 Mar 1965 (9); 24 Sept 1973 (10);
9 July 1973 (11); 13 Dec 1972 (12);
23 Aug 1974 (13); 24 Nov 1974 (14);
27 May 1975 (15). ADD
MELODIYA MEL CD 10 01065
When
released by Aulos Rob Barnett named
these recordings the Gold Standard but
it seemed impossible to get hold of
the discs. These have now been re-released
by Melodiya. ... see original
review Purchase here
£50 postage paid.
for
details
