Brahms: String Quartets No 1 & 3 / Borodin Quartet Composer: Johannes Brahms Orchestra/Ensemble: Borodin String Quartet Quartet for Strings no 1 in C minor, Op. 51 no 1 Written: 1865-1873; Austria Quartet for Strings no 3 in B flat major, Op. 67 Written: 1875; Austria The distinctive perspective and insight of Russian musicians furnishes an interesting and valid perception of Western European art-music. This recording was made in Berlin, 1993. With the String Quartet in c-minor, Op. 51, No. 1, the Borodin's take a sensible time scale in the Allegro introduction wherein they accentuate the lyrical while de-emphasizing the dramatic, thusly realizing a very apprehensible presentation. The Russians achieve an especially ethereal ambience in the rare Romance. There is a joyous buoyancy with piquant pizzicati in the trio of the Allegretto, and a vivid intensity in the Finale where the lucidity of timing and phrasing aid in aesthetic perception.