Borodin Quartet | Classical review

Wigmore Hall, LondonShostakovich's first quartet has often been misunderstood as a timid, almost glib response to his humiliating dressing down by the regime in 1936. Subtitled Springtime, and composed of four brief movements in an insouciant idiom, one can see why. Yet, when performed ­properly, this restraint is understood as part of the subject matter. Opening in medias res, reminiscent of a Tolstoy or Chekhov short story, one seems transported to a country drawing room. Tea has been serve...

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