Chamber Ensemble

Borodin Quartet


Quartet in Residence 2012 - 2014

Internationale Beethovenfeste Bonn


Ruben Aharonian - violin
Sergey Lomovsky - violin
Igor Naidin - viola
Vladimir Balshin - cello

The Borodin Quartet are one of the great quartets of our time.  For over 65 years, the Borodin Quartet has been celebrated for its insight and authority in the chamber music repertoire.  Revered for its searching performances of Beethoven and Shostakovich, the Quartet is equally at home in music ranging from Mozart to Stravinsky. They have stayed true to their roots, retaining their unique sound and style of playing over the years.

 

Borodin Quartet – Quartet in Residence 2012 – 14 at the Internationale Beethovenfeste Bonn

01 Apr 2012

The Borodin Quartet was officially announced as “Quartet in Residence” at the Internationale Beethovenfeste. The Quartet will perform 4 concerts on each visit, over the three years performing all...

Borodin Quartet tours Japan

05 Mar 2012

The Borodin Quartet performed works by Brahms, Schumann, Tchaikovsky and Borodin in a series of concerts in Shunan, Kyoto, Tokyo and Hamarikyu.

Borodin Quartet at Cité de la Musique

12 Jan 2012

The Borodin Quartet performs Wolfgang Rihm’s Grave – In memoriam Thomas Kakuska at the world renowned Cité de la Musique. The programme also featured Beethoven’s String Quartet’s No 8 & 9.

Borodin Quartet in residency at Lisbon’s Gulbenkian

16 Oct 2011

The Borodin Quartet performs a programme of Shostakovich’ Quartets in five successful concerts.

Borodin Quartet at Montréal’s new Maison symphonique de Montréal

10 Sep 2011

Their performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet No 15 in A minor and Shostakovich’ Quintet No 15 received outstanding reviews:

“The Borodin played the 45-minute work with astonishing ease...

Borodin Quartet debuts at Philharmonie Luxembourg

09 May 2011

The Borodin Quartet is one of five ensembles performing as part of the Quatuor à cordes series at Philharmonie Luxembourg this season.  The concert takes place on Tuesday 10 may in the...

medici.tv streams the Borodin Quartet live from Cité de la musique

12 Jan 2011

The Borodin Quartet performed six Shostakovich Quartets at Cité de la musique on 8 and 9 January which were streamed live on www.medici.tv...

The Borodin Quartet on tour in Europe

12 Jan 2011

The Borodin Quartet is currently on a European tour, taking in the cities of Paris, Manchester, Rotterdam and Stockholm.

New CD for the Borodin Quartet

14 May 2010

The Borodin Quartet has a new CD release on the Onyx label. They perform Borodin’s String Quartet No 1, Stravinsky Concertino and Myaskovsky Quartet No 13. The quartet has recently returned to...

The Borodin Quartet embarks on an extensive tour of Australia and New Zealand

20 Feb 2010

To mark their 65th anniversary, the Borodin Quartet embarks on an extensive 20 concert tour of Australia and New Zealand throughout February and March. The quartet will end its tour with concerts...

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“What is most impressive is the Borodin’s sensitivity to the Haydnesque features that lend the music its special character, most notably its wit, in the sense of both humour and imagination.”

International Record Review (Haydn String Quartets CD review) - May 2011

“With a new cellist in place, the ensemble continue to play with a romantic warmth that has made them pre-eminent among string quartets. Such heat is vital for their namesake's First Quartet - ambling at times but delicious. After neo-classical asperity (Stravinsky's Concertino), the CD reaches Myaskovsky's Thirteenth. Some of its harmonies and demeanour seem antique in a work composed in 1949. But it's music of substance, packed with activity and colour, and the Borodins do it full justice.”

The Times (Borodin Quartet - Borodin/Stravinsky/Myaskovsky, Onyx) - Apr 2010

“Phrasing and ensemble were near faultless while control over dynamics, timbre and balance was by far the best I've heard in this brutally exposed acoustic. There was no doubting the lively musical intellect at work, the attention to detail, and that magical depth of sound quality that so few ensembles currently possess.”

The Australian (Shostakovich and Borodin String Quartets) - Feb 2010

“The Borodin Quartet's inscrutable intonation and balance captured this comic-tragic quality to perfection. Each phrase is shaped to bring out its musical essence, yet nothing is ever exaggerated and Shostakovich's double-sided message emerges with beauty and unvarnished clarity.”

Sydney Morning Herald (Shostakovich and Borodin String Quartets) - Mar 2010

“The Borodin Quartet at the Wigmore Hall was in a class of its own playing Shostakovich and Schnittke. Restraint and clarity might be virtues, but they don't take you far without sensuous appeal. This the Borodin quartet offered in abundance, especially in the "Renaissance" moments in the Schnittke, which had a rapt beauty.”

The Telegraph (Wigmore Hall Recital ) - Jan 2010

“Watching them in this quartet was a little like scrutinising Shostakovich’s own face for tell-tale signs of disquiet. Many colours were deployed here in traversing the wastelands of his soul but none more telling than the soft, still voice of consolation heard high in the cello in the approach to the glowing postlude. The final sunset that the Borodins conjoured here was possessed of an almost supernatural radiance.”

The Independant (Wigmore Hall Recital) - Jan 2010

“Most wondrously of all, and even in the bleak 'musical suicide note' of the Eighth, the Borodin Quartet plays with uncommonly rich, even tone and consoling warmth. For sheer musical presence, it has few equals.”

The Sunday Telegraph (Wigmore Hall Recital) - Jan 2010

“In the dark despair of the Quartet No. 8, the players never resorted to steely tone or slashing intensity. Everything had a deep and understated gravity, as though they were exploring the most private corners of the human soul – appropriately so, if Shostakovich was really contemplating suicide in this music, as some claim. The Borodin’s performance ascended to its summit not with dogged persistence but a magisterial command of the intellectual strength needed for the journey – the result, no doubt, of six decades of experience.”

Financial Times (Wigmore Hall Recital) - Jan 2010

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For more than sixty-five years, the Borodin Quartet has been celebrated for its insight and authority in the chamber music repertoire.  Revered for its searching performances of Beethoven and Shostakovich, the Quartet is equally at home in music ranging from Mozart to Stravinsky.

The Borodin Quartet’s particular affinity with Russian repertoire was stimulated by a close relationship with Shostakovich, who personally supervised its study of each of his quartets. Widely regarded as definitive interpretations, the Quartet’s cycles of the complete Shostakovich quartets have been performed all over the world, including Vienna, Zurich, Frankfurt, Madrid, Lisbon, Seville, London, Paris and New York.  In recent seasons the ensemble has returned to a broader repertoire, including works by Schubert, Prokofiev, Borodin and Tchaikovsky, while continuing to be welcomed and acclaimed at major venues throughout the world.

The Borodin Quartet was formed in 1945 by four students from the Moscow Conservatory.  Ten years later, it changed its name from the Moscow Philharmonic Quartet to the Borodin Quartet. The current members of the Quartet are Ruben Aharonian, Sergey Lomovsky, Igor Naidin and Vladimir Balshin.

In addition to performing quartets, the members of the Borodin Quartet regularly join forces with other distinguished musicians to further explore the chamber music repertoire.  Their partners have included Yuri Bashmet, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Oleg Maisenberg and Ludmila Berlinskaya.  The Quartet also regularly gives master-classes.

Recent and future engagement include recitals in Madrid, Rotterdam, Chicago, Brussels, Geneva, Munich, Lisbon, Barcelona, Athens, Köln, Istanbul, Zurich, Berlin, Moscow, Montreal, New York, Tokyo, Shanghai and London, playing the music of Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Shostakovich – and of course Borodin.

The Quartet’s first release on the Onyx label, featuring Borodin, Schubert, Webern and Rachmaninov, was nominated for a Grammy in the 2005 “Best Chamber Performance” category.  The Borodin Quartet has produced a rich heritage of recordings over several decades, for labels including EMI, RCA and Teldec.  Among its Teldec recordings, those of Tchaikovsky’s Quartets and Souvenir de Florence, Schubert’s String Quintet, Haydn’s Seven The Seven Last Words of Christ and a disc of Russian miniatures all received acclaim.  The Tchaikovsky disc was honoured with a Gramophone Award in 1994. The CD label Chandos recorded and released the complete Beethoven quartets as part of the sixtieth anniversary celebration.

April 2012