Borodin Quartet at 80

The Borodin Quartet over its eight decades has worked with Dmitri Shostakovich, emerged from behind the Iron Curtain and become revered as one of the world’s greatest string quartets. It adopted its current name in 1955, but was founded ten years earlier, making this year its 80th anniversary. Evolving gradually through its various personnel changes, it has always kept its unique sound, each new player learning from the others. Tonight the group devotes the first part of the concert to the String Quartet No.2 by Brahms, a generous-hearted, expansive work that is virtually a symphony for just four instruments. After the interval they play Tchaikovsky’s lyrical and energetic String Quartet No.2, which ideally suits their luscious tone quality.