With her experience as an accomplished chamber musician and with her knowledge of contemporary literature, art history and a mastery of a number of foreign languages, Maria now teaches piano and literature in Paris.\u00a0Classica<\/p>\n
Winner of Prix du t\u00e9moignage, Prix des Muses\/Singer-Polignac, Paris 2016, \u2018Valentin Berlinksky; A Quartet for Life\u2019 by Maria Matalaev, is a somewhat rare masterpiece written with sensitivity and passion\u00a0about the Borodin Quartet via the cellist Valentin Berlinsky (1925\u20132008).\u00a0 The book explores the Moscow Philharmonic Quartet which then, in 1955, became the Borodin Quartet.<\/p>\n
\u2018The more I read, the more absorbed and touched I was.\u2019
\nSteven Isserlis<\/strong><\/p>\n\u2018On so many levels, this is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read<\/strong>: a history of the legendary Borodin Quartet. Furthermore, it’s a memoir of the extraordinary talent among both teachers and students of the Moscow Conservatory in the 1940s (Shostakovich, David Oistrakh and Rostropovich just some of the most famous); and perhaps most intriguing of all – a candid portrait of the Borodin’s long-standing cellist, Valentin Berlinsky.
\nDaniel Jaff<\/strong>\u00e9<\/span><\/b>, BBC Music Magazine, February 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u2018Here is a book created with such passion that even those who question the place of music in today\u2019s world will have their faith restored.\u00a0 The Borodin Quartet was to the string quartet what Richter was to the piano, Oistrakh to the violin, Rostropovich to the cello. But the story of this Soviet ensemble \u2013 the first to come out of the USSR to give concerts abroad \u2013 was inextricably linked to the personality of its founder, the cellist Valentin Berlinsky. \u2018
\nFranck Mallet, Classica<\/strong><\/p>\n\u2018Despite the diversity of the contents, the book reads like a novel, plunging the reader into the daily constraints in which Soviet musicians were obliged to function. Berlinsky does not evade the multiple difficulties that constantly confront the Quartet but shows no bitterness towards his country which he always refused to leave.
\nS\u00e9bastien Foucart, Concertonet.com<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u2018The chapter on Sviatoslav Richter is fascinating, as he was the quartet\u2019s favoured guest pianist. It is nice to have Berlinsky\u2019s thoughts on David Oistrakh, on Rostropovich, on teaching and on trying to make a career in the nightmare of the Soviet Union\u2026\u00a0 The interview with the cellist\u2019s daughter, the pianist Ludmila Berlinskaya, is more straightforward and very touching.\u2019
\nTully Potter, The Strad, June 2019<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u2018Above all, what shines through is the incredible destiny of a magnificent chamber group which, despite the incessant discriminations due to the Jewish origin of some of its members, would become, world-wide and for decades, the most prestigious symbol of the Russian school of quartet playing.\u2019
\n\u2018Enriched by numerous annexes and a discography, this book throws new light, remarkably well documented, on both an individual and a collective experience, undoubtedly unique in the history of the string quartet.
\nPatrick Szersnovicz, Diapason No.640<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u2018Siberian childhood, musical apprenticeship in Moscow, war, the funeral of Stalin, greatness and subjugation, exceptional figures, tours abroad, requirements, success, advice from Shostakovich in person, all are abundantly reproduced here, but also ethics, pedagogy and thoughts on the profession. Certainly the most captivating document on the art of interpretation that we have seen in the last several years.
\nFr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Gaussin, Lettre du musicien No.462<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nAn enchanting read, published in paperback and supplemented with tributes from family and friends with an extensive annexure giving every performance, broadcast and recording made by the Borodin Quartet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The compiled memoirs of Valentin Berlinsky, cellist with the Borodin Quartet for more than six decades.<\/p>\n
Foreword by Steven Isserlis<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Read the review<\/a>, The Strad, June 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":33,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[8,9,28,29,49,50,123,56,57,67,68,86,87],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-cello","7":"product_cat-cello-books","8":"product_cat-double-bass","9":"product_cat-double-bass-books","10":"product_cat-lutherie","11":"product_cat-lutherie-books","12":"product_cat-merchant","13":"product_cat-music-history","14":"product_cat-music-history-books","15":"product_cat-viola","16":"product_cat-viola-books","17":"product_cat-violin","18":"product_cat-violin-books","19":"product_shipping_class-kahn-and-averill-rate-2","21":"first","22":"instock","23":"purchasable","24":"product-type-simple"},"bundled_by":[],"bundle_stock_status":"instock","bundle_stock_quantity":null,"bundle_virtual":false,"bundle_layout":"","bundle_add_to_cart_form_location":"","bundle_editable_in_cart":false,"bundle_sold_individually_context":"","bundle_item_grouping":"","bundle_min_size":"","bundle_max_size":"","bundle_price":[],"bundled_items":[],"bundle_sell_ids":[],"yoast_head":"\nValentin Berlinsky - 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