The legendary Borodin Quartet, founded in 1945 by graduates from the Moscow Conservatory, has over the decades forged the closest bond with Russian repertoire, most famously including a close personal relationship with Dmitri Shostakovich, and not least with that by its namesake Alexander Borodin. This recording of Borodin’s two quartets, made in 1980, demonstrates the ensemble’s grace, flexibility and perception, particularly in the exquisite opening theme of the String Quartet No. 2. String Quartet No. 1, a work more rigorously ‘worked out’ in the manner of Beethoven, is a less straightforward listen but the Borodins bring an expressive depth to the first movement, and explore the slow movement’s complex emotions with deftness.