A. Borodin  
String Quartet  #3 

Borodin, (1833-1887)  is said to have written  this work for  his wife of 20 years, to celebrate their Wedding Anniversary. It is a love song from start to finish.   The third movement, the Nottornu, is the most famous, most romantic expression, but as with any love affair, we don’t start with hot and steamy!

The first movement opens with a luscious melody voiced by the cello, then picked up and developed by the first violin. We want to hear that tune because Borodin typically re-uses his melodic material throughout the work. It will be transformed and developed, but  what comes later is derived from what comes before, not newly conceived. The characters he gives us in the opening, will stay with us to the end, though of course, they are modified by the story itself, even as we are by listening to it told.

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The second movement is a Scherzo – a kind of a dance, but light, fun. The second theme feels like a waltz – you’ll want to dance!  And of course you should. Because for what’s coming in the third movement you want to be ready to hold your loved one near! IBorodin’s Notturno is considered one of the most romantic pieces of music ever written. Opening again with a luscious outpouring of passion from the cello, the violin soon comes in to answer with an equally evocative expression of desire and longing. The ending features tremolo effects in the inner voices, and ascending scales in the two violins followed by a final statement of the theme passed between the first violin and the viola. What happened in between – well, you’ll know what that was when you listen!

The Finale opens with a statement in the violins that couldn’t be more of an invitation, to exactly what, I‘m not sure.  Because it is answered, twice by the viola and cello with a passage marked “pesante” – heavy, and grand.  When you hear it, you know that whatever comes next, it’s going to be a rumble! Sure enough, with vivace at the top of the score, first the  cello, then the viola, come bounding in with  staccato rhythms and accented pitches. The second violin joins them and then, in response to the challenge, the first violin comes back with a melody that rises over the top. Is it a response to a challenge? Or an invitation to chase? Either way, it’s a trick because what comes next is  “dolce cantabile” – sweet and singing, but that doesn’t last long. Soon we are scampering around the room again with another vivace. This spirited exchange with its playful shifts of tempo and mood goes on until, well, the end! Which we won’t give away here.
 
Let’s just say that according to Borodin biographer Serge Dianin, this music is meant to evoke the couple’s first meeting. The music gives us the complete meet cute - but no worries:   no video, and the audio is all sound track!  So no rating is required!   
 

Alexander Borodin, one of  “The Five,” a   who in the 1860s banded together to create a truly Russian music, stepping away from European influence, exploiting folk songs and “eastern” sounds. Borodin, however like others in the group maintained the connection with his   European training in his writing. The result  can be heard in the String Quartet No 2: accessible, luscious, passionate, and accessible, yet in it’s own way very much in the “Russian Style”