Alexander Borodin: Streichquartette Nr.1 & 2 auf CD

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Alexander Borodin — String Quartets Borodin composed two quartets in 1875-1881 after he had finished Second "Bogatyrskaia" ("Heroic") Symphony and the work on "Prince Igor", the creation of all his life, was at its height. It was the time of formation and the beginning of bloom of chamber instru¬mental music in Russia. Few earlier P. Tchaikovsky had finished his three quartets, and according to Borodin, in "Mighty Bunch" (The Russian Five) "unexpectedly chamber music came into vogue — Korsakov composed a quintet and a string sextet besides the previous quintet, Cui was about to start a quartet but seems to quit...". Performing ensembles mushroomed in Moscow and Petersburg; then Russian Music Society held the chamber eve-ninigs, the highlights of which were not only creations of Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelsohn, but the new works of the Russian composers.

It might look strange that Borodin, whose name is associated with monumental, epic images, had a soft spot in his heart for chamber music and dedicated a considerable part of his talent to it. Since his youth, he composed ensembles consisting of various instruments and participated in such making music as a cellist. Having become mature as a composer he considered that "chamber music represents one of the most powerful means for developing the taste for music and its understanding". Delicate finishing of music, special intimate intonation that supposes serious listening on the part of performers and listeners, lyrical coloring connected with the nature of the string instruments itself are the qualities peculiar to both chamber genre and Borodin as a composer. His quartets belong to the greatest achievements in the Russian chamber music and are an inseparable part of the collection of golden treasures of the quartet repertory.

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Borodin sketched the first quartet in A major in 1875 but it was completed only four years later. As usual, Borodin composed by starts and fits in summertime or pretending illness that freed the composer from the lectures and lessons. However, the main fragments of "Prince Igor" came from his pen at that very period as well — Yaroslavna's lament, Galitsky's song, Konchak's aria and many other works. The first performance of the quartet in Petersburg was a failure but soon it became surprisingly popular in Russia and abroad.

The first movement of the quartet does not contain any dramatic conflicts but is distinguished for the large scale and intensive theme development. The introduction, Moderato, remarked as dolce, defines the character of the entire part as a lyrical confession that is restrained by the objectivity of the tone. As the composer confessed, one of Beethoven's melodies inspired the main theme of the central part, Allegro, but it has conveyed a distinct a la Russe coloring. A more vivacious and passionate secondary part sounds after the expressive linking part that charms listeners with chromatic harmony. This theme is the central piece image of the part: it dominates in the development rich in events; it becomes the climax of Allegro. In the closing part, the main theme takes over some of the features that are peculiar to the secondary one. In the short coda, the movement comes to a standstill at the motive of the linking theme and solves in the ethereal sound of the flageolets.

The second movement, Andante con moto in F, is one of a few sorrowful pages in Borodin's creative work. The main theme resembles a slow folk song like "Settlers' choir" from the fourth act of "Prince Igor"; the nature of the second theme is consoling and appeased... The tense fugato brings listeners to a dramatic climax and expressive sounding of the main theme. Andante is a doleful dying away against the background of the rhythmic bass.

The third movement, Prestissimo, is a vivacious lively scherzo. One instrument swiftly takes up the leading motive from another instrument; there appeared "pecking" so characteristic of Borodin, constant sudden change of dynamics and contrasting of the tonalities. It looks like playing of some queer and fantastical images. Trio Moderato is highly unusual: a naive songful tune sounds at the background of lively figurations.

The pathos of the final movement of the quartet lies in the painstaking effort to cope with gloomy thoughts with the help of active and energetic images. That was Borodin's viewpoint! The finale begins with a slow introduction that represents the reminiscence of one of the slow parts. The sorrowful meditations resolutely cast aside by the energetic and austere main theme Allegro risoluto. You feel this mood in the lyrical secondary theme that turns into a passionate dramatic impulse. Completing the part the theme of Andante reappears but sounding calmly in major.

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There are works in every composer's creative life that have quite definite personal coloration reflecting the composer's mood and feelings at the moment of creation of the piece. Undoubtedly, Borodin's second quartet belongs to such works. There quite a few compositions in the history of music that reflect their creator's personal experience so vividly. Second Quartet in D major was composed after the composer's trip to Heidelberg in 1877. It was not his first visit to that town — in 1861 the young promising chemist was sent abroad to advance in science where he met his future wife Elena Protopopova, a pianist who came for treatment to Germany.

He had not thought about composing music yet. It was their mutual feeling that determined to a great extent Borodin's further development as a composer. When he found himself in Heidelberg, again many years later the memories engulfed him. Here are some lines from his letter to his wife: "So much have I experienced! Such a mixture of happiness and bitterness was it! Approaching Heidelberg I covered my face with the hands to hide the welling tears...What went I through passing the galleries and paths where we had been wandering in the time of our happiness! I would have given anything to have you with me!"

In 1881, Borodin composed the quartet very quickly, "in one go" devoting it to his wife Elena. He had finished it by August 10th, at the twenty-fifth anniversary of their declaration of love. It is natural that this feeling with its revived youthful enthusiasm dominates in the music, defines its character and mood. Borodin's biographer A. Sokhor expresses the opinion that there was a hidden program of the quartet that showed the gradual beginning of Love.

The first movement, Allegro moderate with its slow quiet movement, mutually complementing contrast of two themes — the main elegiac one of the soloing cello and excited secondary one of the violin — is close to the serenade genre. It can be treated as an evening stroll of two lovers and their heart-to heart talk.

The second movement (Scherzo), Allegro in A is some kind of a sketch of the party amidst of the lively and noisy crowd, perhaps, somewhere at the ball. The most vivid theme of the part is a real "Viennese Waltz" that compares well with the Johann Strauss' ones.

The third movement (Nocturne), Andante in D flat, is one of Borodin's pinnacles in his creative life. This music personifies a declaration of love, a dialogue of two hearts, enveloped with passionate and anxious feeling. The inspiring melody combining the turns of the Russian romance and some Eastern languor is performed on the upper notes of the cello and then is passed to the violin. The middle part of Nocturne is in contrast to the general mood with energetic intonations in order to return to the languor of love song. Both voices merge and the theme is rendered as a canon. The coda of the movement is the scene of the lovers' parting, there is sadness and gradual dying out of the final phrases in a soft Pianissimo... The finale of the quartet is bases on the contrasting change of the deliberately clumsy phrase with a vivacious movement let us imagine a scene of an awakening in the morning, a beginning of a new day that promises to be full of joyful impressions.

Boris Mukosei