Características
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin achieved some posthumous fame when Robert Wright and George Forrest used his musical work as the basis for their Broadway musical Kismet in 1953. Borodin himself was a successful chemist and physician in his day job, researching polymerisation and condensation reactions, and campaigning for women's rights in Tsarist Russia. However, it was as a composer rather than a scientist that he achieved international fame.
Borodin was part of the 'Group of Five', also known as 'The Mighty Bunch', consisting of the composers Mili Balakirev, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and himself. They set themselves the task of promoting national Russian music and freeing it from Western European influences. How Borodin managed to compose alongside his full-time work remains a mystery. For this 1954 recording at Geneva's Victoria Hall, Ernest Ansermet conducts the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande through some of his most important works. Remastered by Bernie Grundman for ORG, the double 180g vinyl LP (45 rpm) comes in an elegant gatefold sleeve.
Side A Borodin: Symphony No. 2 in B Minor 1. First Movement: Allegro 2. Second Movement: Scherzo (Prestissimo) Side B Borodin: Symphony No. 2 in B Minor 3. Third Movement: Andante 4. Fourth Movement: Finale (Allegro Side C Borodin: Symphony No. 3 in A Minor 5. First Movement: Moderato assai 6. Second Movement: Scherzo (Vivo) Side D 7. Prince Igor Overture