There is a story that when the Borodin Quartet was formed, in 1945, its original members signed an oath of allegiance in their own blood. The lineup has undergone many changes in the 70 years since, but the current quartet still plays as if the same stuff is running through all their veins. There is next to no visible communication between players – something that can reinforce the impression of a certain coolness in the performance. But generally, no sooner is that impression formed than it is blown apart: the Borodins can be fiery even while looking efficient.
Each concert in this anniversary series is devoted to Beethoven and Shostakovich. Here they opened with Beethoven’s “Harp” Quartet, Op 74, and after a tender start brought out a dense, rich tone that flourished in the inner lines in the slow movement, and that made the middle section of the third movement, a Bach-like fugue, sound as if it were being played on a huge, clangorous organ. They finished with Op 18, No 1: crisp and springy in the fast movements, and with an old-school weightiness in the slow movement, and lots of variety of colour, even if they almost never play truly softly.
But it is with Shostakovich that the Borodins are inextricably linked – not only because the quartet worked so extensively with the composer, but because they can take his notes and make them sound more right than almost any other ensemble. Now that there is a tendency to hear every work by Shostakovich as a bitter political commentary, borne out of misery, it is refreshing to hear the Borodins play something like the Quartet No 6, and to make it sound so unlaboured, so weightless. Yes, there is sadness and introspection in this score but some of it is pastoral and almost sunny, and the Borodins – with Ruben Aharonian’s violin singing impossibly sweetly on top – made the whole thing flow as naturally as speech.
