In 2015 the Borodin Quartet will celebrate seventy years of bringing quality chamber music to audiences, just like Musica Viva. String quartet music of an extremely high calibre was on display this week in the first of their two Sydney Musica Viva International Season concerts at the City Recital Hall.
An exciting part of the history of the Borodin String Quartet is the time spent when former members workshopped new works with composer Dmitri Shostakovich. The quartet members in this century have benefitted from this close link to the composer. A true highlight of this inspiring programme was the chilling beauty and concise offering of motif and gesture during Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 11, Op122 in F minor.
The organic growth within this work’s seven movement structure was spellbinding. The quartet’s amazing control and veiled tones was a pleasure to listen to. This Shostakovich composition was in stark contrast to the Beethoven and Schubert works heard in the remainder of the concert. However, a common excellence in ensemble balance existed for all performances. For the Shostakovich quartet, the understanding of a revolutionary style and the unique communication of emotion and architecture was extremely penetrating.
In the opening work, Beethoven’s String Quartet Opus 18 No 1 in F major, the Borodin Quartet exuded streamlined early Beethoven charm, elegance and restraint. The standard of blend from the individual players was exquisite. We were spoilt for future experiences by hearing quartet players moving so perfectly as an homogenous whole. This exemplary level of ensemble skill is not always heard in string quartet concerts. The slow movement, with Beethoven’s extra musical links to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, contrasted passionately with the smooth rendering of the other movements’ contours and structure.
The concert concluded with Schubert’s well known String Quartet No 14, D810 in D minor (‘The Death and the Maiden’). The mix of Romanticism with earlier structural forms was sensibly presented. Variations on Schubert’s lied theme in the second movement were offered in calm broad strokes, once more highlighting the masterful tools of balance and interaction available to this quartet. They rocketed through the tarantella finale seamlessly to end the program.
Sydney audiences have one more chance to hear the Borodin Quartet in the fine acoustic of the City Recital Hall, Angel Place. A matinee concert featuring early Beethoven once more, some Tchaikovsky, and anchored by the achingly austere Shostakovich String Quartet No 8 will take place on Saturday October 11 at 2pm.