Alexander Borodin - Three musical masterpieces

 Although he was professionally a chemist, Borodin's extensive output as a composer placed him among Russia's Big Five, which also included Korsakov, Balakirev, Cui, and Mussorgsky. He was a romantic composer who turned to music as a means of relaxation from his scientific work, yet he nonetheless demonstrated his virtuosity through his compositions. I would focus on three wonderful pieces today.

In the Steppes of Central Asia - In 1880, Czar Alexander II was to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his reign, and had commissioned Borodin to write the background music for a Tableau Vivant. (A tableau vivant is an outdated art form where actors would be arranged on a stage and assume poses depicting a certain scene, with music playing in the background, and they would be lit up artistically! The art form resembled a painting, and one of its approximate modern-day analogues is the concept of living statues.) But due to an assassination attempt on the Czar, the production was cancelled. Nevertheless, it remained a favourite piece, even without the context of a tableau vivant, and was premiered by Korsakov as a conductor. 

The picture painted by the piece is that of Russians on horseback accompanying a caravan carrying Central Asians, being pulled by camels. There are two themes in this symphonic poem, corresponding to the Russians and the Asians. The piece begins with the Russian theme, and later, the cor anglais, representing the Central Asian theme, starts playing as the caravan draws closer. Both themes are developed independently until the caravan reaches the viewpoint of the listener, where they are played in a beautiful counterpoint. All this time, a travelling theme is being played in pizzicato, which indicates the plodding hooves. The music then gradually decreases as the caravan becomes a speck on the horizon, which is accompanied by a solo flute, until it disappears from sight.

Notturno (3rd movement from String Quartet No. 2 in D Major) - Even though the movement is called a nocturne, which might make you think it would invoke a pensive mood, the piece is a romance! Composed in 1881 while staying at his friend's estate, this quartet was presumably a gift to his wife, Ekaterina, for the 20th anniversary of their first meetup. The movement is in A major and in Andante tempo. 

Being a cellist himself, Borodin inserted himself in the piece as the Cello, and his wife as the first violin. The cello starts with a caressing theme, and the violin is tender. This is followed by an ardour theme of ascending scales, which culminates in an interplay between both themes and a series of modulations. Finally, in the latter half of the movement, the first theme is introduced again in canon. (A canon is a compositional technique where two instruments play the same melody, but with a time shift between them, so one of them follows the other. The initial melody is called dux, and the imitative one is called comes.) Firstly, it is between the cello and the first violin, and then between the first and the second violinists.

Polovtsian Dances - Borodin spent almost a decade working on the opera Prince Igor, which was left unfinished at his death in 1887 and was subsequently completed by Glazunov and Korsakov. These dances appear at the end of Act 2, in the camp of the victorious Khan, who is entertaining the captured Igor and his son, by a ballet of slaves with a chorus of nature. There are multiple maidens in the dance, and Khan offers Igor the opportunity to choose his preference among them. There are notable instrumental solos of the oboe and the cor anglais in the dance!