Alexander Borodin - String Quartet No. 2

- Composer: Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (12 November 1833 -- 27 February 1887) - Performers: Borodin String Quartet - Year of recording: 1980 String Quartet No. 2 in D major, written in 1881. 00:00 - I. Allegro moderato in D major and 2/2 time 08:26 - II. Scherzo. Allegro in F major and 3/4 time 13:19 - III. Notturno (Nocturne): Andante in A major and 3/4 time 22:03 - IV. Finale: Andante — Vivace in D major and 2/4 time Borodin’s String Quartet No. 2 in D major differs from many of the composer’s other works in two ways: it was completed quickly, during August 1881, and it lacks a published program. These two factors may be related; Borodin dedicated the quartet to his wife Ekaterina, and it was written as an evocation of when they met and fell in love in Heidelberg 20 years earlier. The composer seems to have represented himself in this quartet with the cello (he was an amateur player), while Ekaterina is portrayed by the first violin. Each of the movements is w