Daniel Jaff\u00e9 discovers the best recordings of Borodin’s Symphony No. 2, a bravely experimental and colourful work that changed the course of orchestral music <\/p>
Composed 1869-76 then revised several times up to the composer\u2019s death in 1887, Borodin\u2019s Second has long been recognised as the first great Russian symphony. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Much of its pioneering originality can be ascribed to its being the wild offspring of an already accomplished symphonist \u2013 Borodin<\/a><\/strong> was prompted to compose it by the warm public reception given the premiere of his very fine, totally unprogrammatic First Symphony \u2013 and a would-be epic opera composer. <\/span><\/p>\n Prompted by Vladimir Stasov, effectively godfather of the so-called \u2018Kuchka\u2019 (\u2018Mighty Handful<\/a><\/strong>\u2019) group of composers, Borodin had already started <\/span>work on his opera, Prince Igor<\/i>, on a scenario by Stasov based on the old Slavic poem The <\/i><\/span>Lay of Igor\u2019s Campaign<\/i>: this concerns the medieval prince and his failed campaign in 1185 against the Polovtsy, a fierce tribe of warriors who had settled in the Don River valley. <\/span><\/p>\n Though initially intrigued, by early 1870 Borodin was disenchanted with Stasov\u2019s \u2018undramatic\u2019 scenario. Still, his imagination had been stirred, so Borodin promised Stasov that although intending to abandon the opera (he in fact resumed it in 1874) he would incorporate music he\u2019d written for it into his new\u00a0symphony.<\/span><\/p>\n We named Borodin <\/span>one of the best Russian composers of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nA guide to the music of Borodin\u2019s second symphony<\/span><\/h2>\n