Borodin: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 / In the Steppes of Central Asia

Featuring

Junichi Hirokami
Malmö SymfoniOrkester
Alexander Borodin

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Critical Reception

Franz Liszt, the Hungarian composer and virtuoso pianist, became an ardent advocate for Borodin's Second Symphony, helping it quickly establish itself in Western Europe.

Composer Biography

Borodin's friend Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov described his life as a competition between the test tube and the music stand, often finding Borodin in his laboratory.

Compositional Technique

Borodin's First Symphony was pioneering in its structure, using only one main theme that appears in its entirety only in the coda, a technique not common until the 20th century.

Composer's Artistic Vision

In the symphonic poem In the Steppes of Central Asia, Borodin aimed to present "images of a patriotic character from Russian history," depicting the friendly relationship between Russians and the indigenous population.

Composer Biography

Alexandr Borodin, the composer, was a professor of organic chemistry at the Medical Academy of St. Petersburg and lived in the academy building.

Composition History

Borodin's First Symphony was completed in 1867, five years after Mily Balakirev, his composition teacher, urged him to write it.

Composer Biography

Borodin was a pioneer in other fields, initiating one of the first medical study courses for female students in St. Petersburg in 1872, where he also taught.