A Gem by Alexander Borodin

Post date: Mar 18, 2013 5:03:23 PM

Do You Know This Work?

The String Quartet #1 in A Major

By

Alexander Borodin

Alexander Borodin seems to have excelled in every field of endeavor he ever attempted. Born in 1833, he was the illegitimate son of a Georgian nobleman and a 24-year old peasant woman. Nevertheless Borodin’s father ensured that he had an excellent education: he finished medical school in Russia and received a doctorate in analytical chemistry from the University of Heidelberg. Returning to his native land, Borodin became one of the most distinguished chemists in Tsarist Russia, where he became a champion of women’s rights and helped establish a medical school for women in St. Petersburg. In 1862, at the age of 29, he decided to study composition, and taught himself to play the cello, forever enriching the world of classical music with his decision.

Borodin falls into that group of composers whose fame and reputation are based on a relatively small sampling of their entire bodies of work. His String Quartet #2 in D Major is by far his most well known chamber work, rife with melodic motifs that remain recognizable to this day. The Kirby Stone Four popularized the second movement of this quartet in the late 1950’s with their hit Baubles, Bangles, and Beads. The third movement found new life years after its composition as the torch song This Is My Beloved. While his String Quartet #1 in A Major never attained the staying power and popularity of its younger sibling, it is a work bound to enrich those who take the time to know it. Borodin spent three years writing his first quartet; it was time well spent.

Borodin’s training as a chemist seems to be apparent in the way he constructed the first movement, Moderato. After a formal, slow-paced introduction, Borodin strings out a long, lush harmonic motif with extremely clever interplay between all four voices. The first movement could almost be a molecular chain put to music. Borodin hints at sections of Beethoven’s 13^th string quartet (Op. 130), but he flavors those morsels with unmistakable Russian seasoning. His masterful writing for the cello is especially apparent in this movement. As in many of his works, Borodin’s cello always seems to be the wisest and most thoughtful voice in the room.

There is a decidedly darker hue to the Andante con moto which follows. By far the most introspective of the four movements, the Andante initially keeps its distance from the listener with a heavy Slavic severity, but it becomes somewhat more introspective and kindly before its conclusion. The chant-like motif appearing throughout the movement foreshadows what will come later.

In the third movement, Borodin does not keep his ideas or emotions at a distance whatsoever. One of the most remarkable Scherzos in the string quartet literature, this movement flies off the page, taxing its performers and mesmerizing its audience. The movement contains some of Borodin’s most original musical ideas, and he punctuates each one with an emphatic pluck of the strings before moving on to his next idea.

As if to allow the performers a chance to catch their collective breath, Borodin has a lengthy Andante to introduce the fourth movement, the Finale. The motif in the beginning is hauntingly familiar—it is the main theme of the Andante con moto played at an even slower tempo. The solemn introduction eventually gives way to a musical call to war, the agitated, driven main section of the Finale. With its terse rhythms, punchy syncopations, and unabashed passion, Borodin’s writing in this movement is the very essence of Russian romanticism, which finally gives way and ends with a triumphant, four-voice chorale.

Borodin’s String Quartet #1 in A Major: worthy of becoming a closer musical acquaintance.