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“Arresting performance from superb quartet”~ Stephen Fisher ~ read full review
“Russian joke to start the year off right”~ William Dart ~ read full review
“The hall was absolutely chocka”~ Murray Khouri talking to Eva Radich ~ read full review
“Musical masters set benchmark for quartet string playing”~ John Button ~ read full review
“Shostakovich well served by Russian quartet”~ Rosalind Appleby ~ read full review
“Finding tears behind the straight face”~ Peter McCallum ~ read full review
“Great technique and musicianship”~ Jennifer Gall ~ read full review
“Nuance, intimacy and good vibratos”~ Eamonn Kelly ~ read full review
“Hearing the Borodins live in concert connects us to the source of Russia’s musical legacy with all its attendant complexities and triumphs.”~ Euan Murdoch ~ read full review
“I know of no other quartet in which the players efface themselves as selflessly as in the Borodin”read full review
15 March 2010
WEL Energy Trust Academy of Performing Arts, Hamilton,Sunday 14th March
If one ever wanted to hear the consummate artistry in string quartet playing, this was surely it. A Russian quartet performing some of the finest Russian repertoire; the result was stunning, the musicality so refined, so deep and moving, attuned with each other that their voices appeared as one.
Borodin’s String Quartet No.2, from the outset the singing qualities of the quartet’s playing was portrayed with a rich tapestry of warm and fluid hews, full of the subtleties and nuances micro-balanced. The famous 3rd movement Notturno: Andante with its singing rubato was beautifully interwoven with the moods from this exquisite movement changing from, joy to sadness and ending with hope
With Shostakovich’s String Quartet No.8 in C minor Op.110, the quartet’s colours were colder and with darker hues with dramatic urgency carried the weight of humanity on their shoulders. The macabre waltz portrayed these undertones of the work along with the powerful repeated chords. As the emotional landscape became more desolate, grave and bleak the quartet adjusted their palette to perfection.
Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No.1 had a sunnier disposition which was smooth and silken, with a lush opulent sound as rich as a full string orchestra. The Andante cantabile with all its radiant beauty shone like a jewel. The vitality of the final Allegro was effusive. The standing ovation was answered by the Rachmaninov Romance in G minor as an encore. An amazing concert to experience; those who attended should feel privileged to have heard such amazing artists.
