Borodin Quartet

The Borodin Quartet is a string quartet that was founded in 1945 in the then Soviet Union. It is one of the world's longest-lasting string quartets, having marked its 70th-anniversary season in 2015.

The quartet was one of the Soviet Union's best known in the West during the Cold War era, through recordings as well as concert performances in the United States and Europe.

The quartet had a close relationship with composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who personally consulted them on each of his quartets. They also performed with the pianist Sviatoslav Richter on many occasions. They have recorded all of Shostakovich's string quartets as well as all of Beethoven's quartets. Although it has seen many personnel changes in its lifespan, all quartet members have been graduates of the Moscow Conservatory.

The quartet was formed as the Moscow Conservatoire Quartet with Mstislav Rostropovich on cello, Rostislav Dubinsky and Nina Barshai on first and second violins, and Rudolf Barshai on viola, all members of a class taken by Mikhail Terian, the viola player of the Komitas Quartet. Rostropovich withdrew after a few weeks in favour of Valentin Berlinsky.

As one of the most revered groups during the Communist era, the quartet performed at the funerals of both Joseph Stalin and Sergei Prokofiev, who died on the same day in 1953.

In 1955 the quartet was renamed after Alexander Borodin, one of the founders of Russian chamber music.

In the Soviet era their concert engagements and repertoire were directed by the state concert organisation Gosconcert on the basis of maximum revenue. This irked the performers and Western concert organisers.

After 20 years with the same lineup, difficult times followed in the 1970s: Dubinsky defected to the West, and second violinist Yaroslav Alexandrov retired due to ill health. Having recruited replacements, Berlinsky insisted that the ensemble spend two years out of public attention until the Borodin sound had been fully recreated.

In his 1989 book Stormy Applause, Dubinsky chronicled disharmony, power struggles and betrayal to the authorities by Berlinsky, who admitted being a Communist Party member. Berlinsky, for his part, dismissed the book as “full of half truths”. Whatever the truth of such stories, Berlinsky's 62 years in one of the world's most renowned string quartets were a singular achievement, possibly unique in the history of the genre.

Dubinsky formed the Borodin Trio in 1976. Wikipedia