What is Borodin Quartet?
The '''Borodin Quartet''' is a [[string quartet]] that was founded in 1945 in what was then the [[Soviet Union]]. The four players have not always been the same people: there have been some changes to the group, but it is one of the world's longest lasting string quartets. In 2005, they celebrated their 60th anniversary. Until he retired in 2007, the cellist [[Valentin Berlinsky]] had almost always been the [[cello|cellist]] of the quartet. When they started they were known as the [[Moscow]] Philharmonic Quartet. In 1955, the quartet changed its name to Borodin Quartet, named after the [[composer]] [[Alexander Borodin]] who composed two famous [[string quartet]]s. They often got invitations to play in the West, but the Soviet [[communist]] government would not allow them to travel out of their country. The quartet had to accept the concerts that their government allowed them to do. They played at the [[funeral]]s of the [[dictator]] [[Stalin]] and the composer [[Sergei Prokofiev]] which were on the same day (both men died on 5 March 1953. However, they were not paid anything for either event. The quartet knew the composer [[Dmitri Shostakovich]] very well. They performed his quartets, and Shostakovich often listened to them practising and discussed with them the way he wanted them to be played. The quartet often played [[piano]] quintets with the pianist [[Sviatoslav Richter]]. When they started in 1945, their cellist was [[Mstislav Rostropovich]]. [[Rudolf Barshai]] was their [[viola]] player. Very soon afterwards Rostropovich found he had too many other engagements, so he got Valentin Berlinsky to be their cellist. The four men who then formed the quartet signed an [[oath]] in their own [[blood]] that they would be faithful and stay together as a group. They stayed together for 20 years. Then Rostislav Dubinsky, the first [[violin]]ist, [[defect]]ed to the West and the second violinist, Jaroslav Alexandrov, retired because of bad [[health]]. With two new players, the quartet spend two years practising toget