Alexandre Borodine
Though far from prolific as a composer -- by day he was a scientist noted for his research on aldehydes -- Alexander Borodin nevertheless earned a secure place in the history of Russian music. As a creative spirit, he was the most accomplished of the Russian nationalist composers. He had a particular gift for the distinctive stripe of exoticism so evident in his most frequently performed work, the "Polovtsian Dances" from the opera Prince Igor.
The illegitimate son of a Georgian prince and a doctor's wife, Borodin enjoyed a comfortable upbringing. As a child he learned to play several instruments and tried his hand at composing, but other aptitudes directed his formal education. He studied chemistry at St. Petersburg's Medico-Surgical Academy, obtaining his doctorate in 1858 and pursuing further studies in Europe until 1862. Upon his return to Russia, he became a professor at his alma mater, but even as an academic career apparently loomed before him, he maintained a devotion to music.
Under the influence of Mily Balakirev, whom he met in 1862, Borodin became interested in applying elements of Russian folk music to works for the concert hall and stage. He joined a circle of like-minded composers -- Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, and Cui -- famously dubbed "The Five" or "The Mighty Handful." The influence of Balakirev in particular is at once in evident in the Symphony No. 1 in E flat major (1867). Borodin began the much craggier Symphony No. 2 in B minor in 1869, the same year he commenced labor on his most important work, the opulent four-act opera Prince Igor. While it took him more than five years to complete the symphony, work on Prince Igor dragged on for decades. Borodin, who had in the meantime completed a number of other works, left the opera unfinished at the time of his death. It was completed posthumously by Rimsky-Korsakov, a skillful craftsman and a particularly apt match for Borodin's colorful musical character, and Alexander Glazunov. Glazunov also completed the Symphony No. 3 in A minor, which the composer had been working on until the time of his death.
Aside from teaching chemistry and conducting research, Borodin helped found a series of medical courses for women in 1872. Such activities, as well as the poor health that plagued him in the 1880s, drained the energy that he might have devoted to composition. Still, as a part-time composer, he left a significant oeuvre: more than a dozen worthy songs, miscellaneous piano pieces, two string quartets (the second of which contains a ravishing Nocturne often performed in an arrangement for string orchestra), and the popular tone poem In the Steppes of Central Asia (1880). Borodin died while attending a ball in St. Petersburg on February 27, 1887.
© James Reel /TiVo
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Borodin: In the Steppes of Central Asia (Digitally Remastered)
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 17 Apr 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Art of Nikolai Golovanov: Borodin - Symphony No. 2
Classical - Released by Music Online on 7 Dec 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Romantic Cello
Alexandre Borodine, Edward Elgar, Julian Lloyd Webber
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 15 Feb 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2
Chamber Music - Released by Naxos on 24 Oct 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Borodin: Prince Igor
Classical - Released by Music Online on 25 Oct 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Borodin: Symphony No. 2 in B Minor "The Herculean" (Digitally Remastered)
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 16 Apr 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Borodin: Symphony no 2
Alexandre Borodine, Christian Lindberg, Oviedo Filarmonía
Classical - Released by EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE on 26 Mar 2024
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Borodin: Petite Suite
Classical - Released by Zocotora Records on 13 May 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ballet Music: 50 Must-Have Russian Ballet Classics
Ballets - Released by Cobra Entertainment LLC on 23 Jun 2017
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Borodin: Prince Igor, Opera in Four Acts (Digitally Remastered)
The Symphony Orchestra of Bolshoi Theatre
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 15 Apr 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Borodin: Polovetsian Dance No. 8 from Prince Igor (Digitally Remastered)
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 11 Apr 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Borodin: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2
Classical - Released by Arabesque Recordings on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Romantic Thanksgiving
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Sergei Prokofiev, Alexandre Borodine
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 21 Nov 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Borodin: Selección de Polovietzkian Dances
Classical - Released by Piros Comercial Digital on 19 Jun 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Borodin: Symphony No 2, On The Steppes Of Central Asia, Tchaikovsy: 1812 Overture
The Ljubljana Symphony Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Stradivari Classics on 1 Jan 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: Piano Quartet - Borodin Piano Quintet & Trio 'Unfinished'
Chamber Music - Released by Guild GmbH on 15 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev - Borodin
Sergei Prokofiev, Alexandre Borodine, Christian Lindberg, Oviedo Filarmonía
Classical - Released by EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE on 4 Jul 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strings by Starlight
The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, Felix Slatkin
Classical - Released by Radio Tower Records on 5 Jan 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best of Classic
Classical - Released by Piros - Send on 20 Jun 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Russian Composers
Classical - Released by OMP Classics on 30 Jun 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Borodin: Petite Suite
Alexandre Borodine, Niagara Falls Piano Classic Philharmonic
Classical - Released by Pastel Records Canada on 1 Jun 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo