Nocturne from String Quartet No2

arranged by Malcolm Sargent (1895-1967)

Alexander Borodin is perhaps best known in this country for the “Polovtsian Dances” from his opera Prince Igor. His Second String Quartet, which was written in 1881 and dedicated to the composer’s wife on the 20th anniversary of their engagement, is obviously a far more intimate work. It does share with Prince Igor, however, some of the exotically colourful characteristics of the folk music of the more distant regions of Russia. Certainly, the Nocturne is one of the most seductive of all pieces ever written for the string quartet. It was in order to make the most of its sensuous melody and its romantic night-time atmosphere that Sir Malcolm Sargent - conductor of the RLPO in the 1940s and of the Henry Wood Proms for the last twenty years of his life - arranged it for this larger orchestral ensemble.