Borodin Quartet Beethoven String Quartets,

The Borodin String Quartet was formed in 1945 in Moscow. Cellist Valentin Berlinsky has been with the quartet since its earliest days and violinist Andrei Abramenkov joined in 1974. Igor Naidin learnt the art of quartet playing from several of the Borodins including the Quartet’s violinist, Dmitri Shebalin, whom he eventually replaced. Leader Ruben Aharonian has won prizes at several international competitions, including the Enescu, Montréal and Tchaikovsky.

The Mandelring Quartet plays with unflinching resolve, sympathetic expression, incisive attacks, and penetrating tone, which are all necessary in Shostakovich's sardonic and frequently bitter language.

For fans of Sergey Taneyev, the so-called Russian Brahms, the re-issue of the Taneyev Quartets recordings of the nine string quartets of their namesake in 2005 was cause for celebrating. Taped in the late Seventies, their recordings were only intermittently available in what was then called the West, and their re-release restored to the catalogue performances which could well be considered definitive.

The Tokyo Quartet became one of the most prominent string quartets in the world and continues a reputation for insightful interpretations.

The recordings, made by Bavarian Radio between 2001 and 2005, are, if anything, classier still, with equally classy annotations by Shostakovich scholars Frans Lemaire and David Fanning.
Since fact and speculation are for once carefully defined, you won't see here the incautious revisionism of so much Shostakovich commentary.

Hard-cornered, sharp-edged, and superbly played, the Mandelring Quartett's series of performances of Shostakovich's string quartets recorded for the Audite label are splendid examples of the modernist-internationalist manner.

Borodin Quartet - Barber, Schönberg, Hindemith: Chamber Music Of The 20th Century
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 347 MB | Full Artwork: 55 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Melodiya # MEL CD 10 00978 | Country/Year: Russia 2005
Genre: Classical | Style: Early 20th Century

Founded at the Moscow Conservatory in 1945 by violist (and later conductor) Rudolf Barshai, the Borodin Quartet survived defections and other personnel changes to become regarded as the leading Soviet (and then Russian) quartet of the second half of the twentieth century…

The Pacifica Quartet address the more intimate side of Dimitri Shostakovich, particularly his quartets composed in the fateful years in the Soviet Union, 1952-1960. In 1948, Shostakovich, along with Prokofiev and Miaskovsky, had been excoriated as “formalists” incapable of direct communication with “the people.” Shostakovich, however, employed the string quartet medium as means of personal expression relatively unhampered by “political correctness.”……

Gary Lemco @ Audiophile Audition