Borodin: String Quartet No. 2 in D major

Well known though Borodin’s Second Quartet is, the First has suffered relative neglect. It had a long gestation period, but it is a strong, inventive work, well worth discovering and with a truly engaging finale. The second quartet has at its centre, the wonderful Nocturne, which has gone on to become a concert piece in its own right. Both works constitute some of the most important chamber music to have come out of Russia in the 19th century. The Fitzwilliam Quartet recorded these pieces in 1979 and 1980 and they have never before been available on CD.

The Leipzig String Quartet has unearthed some genuine treasures whilst on this Russian journey. The greatest discovery is Nikolai Afanasiev’s Volga which integates characterful folk melodies into four wonderful quartet movements.

An amateur cellist, the composer of Prince Igor was the only one of the Group of Five to have written some ten chamber works for his personal pleasure in keeping with the laws of Germanic rhetoric - to Balakirev's great displeasure. One of them is a serious masterpiece: his Quartet in D, featuring an irresistible ‘Nocturne’, known in various arrangements, here with the Prazaks: “Quite simply a joy to hear.” The Strad