Alexander Borodin was one of the ‘Mighty Handful’ of Russian composers (alongside Balakirev, Cui, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov). Here you can enjoy a well-programmed compilation of his best-loved music including the three symphonies, the “Polovtsian Dances” from his opera Prince Igor and the String Quartet No. 2, with its much-loved third-movement Notturno, played appropriately, and stylishly, by the Borodin Quartet. The symphonic works are entrusted to various orchestras, with Symphony No. 2 sounding resplendent in a 1961 LSO recording under Jean Martinon, while Vladimir Ashkenazy conducts the Royal Philharmonic in Symphony No. 1. Ernest Ansermet and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande take charge of brief yet vivid tone poem In the Steppes of Central Asia, and there are arias and songs performed by the great Bulgarian bass Nicolai Ghiaurov, here in powerful voice.