The corpus of Russian chamber music from the period of the Mighty Handful is not large nor often played, and a competent recording of Borodin works is worthwhile on the face of it. One of the repertory's undisputed high points is the String Quartet No. 2 in D major of 1881, full of great tunes that turned up in the Broadway musical Kismet (sample the "Notturno" slow movement). The performance here by the Goldner String Quartet is lyrical and clean, all that could be desired, really. But equally attractive is the opening ...
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The corpus of Russian chamber music from the period of the Mighty Handful is not large nor often played, and a competent recording of Borodin works is worthwhile on the face of it. One of the repertory's undisputed high points is the String Quartet No. 2 in D major of 1881, full of great tunes that turned up in the Broadway musical Kismet (sample the "Notturno" slow movement). The performance here by the Goldner String Quartet is lyrical and clean, all that could be desired, really. But equally attractive is the opening Piano Quintet in C minor of 1862, with an electric performance by Piers Lane on the piano. This is supposed to be a work from Borodin's pre-nationalist period, but you'd never know it from the opening theme. The Cello Sonata in B minor is a partially lost work later reconstructed by composer Mikhail Goldstein, who claimed to have written a third of the end result. It doesn't quite have the cohesive sweep of the quintet, but again it is a melodically rich work. A few other recordings...
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Add this copy of Borodin: Piano Quintet & String Quartet No. 2 [Hyperion to cart. $32.96, new condition, Sold by Revaluation Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Exeter, DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2017 by Hyperion.
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