String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor

After Prokofiev’s death in 1953, Shostakovich was regarded as the leading Soviet composer of his generation. Not surprisingly, he came under pressure to join the Communist Party, and finally did so after some pressure from Khrushchev himself. Shostakovich was beside himself with despair and self-hatred for this capitulation. In 1960, having been asked to score a film on the bombing of Dresden, Five Days, Five Nights, he spent time in the then-East German city. While there, he composed his String Quartet No. 8. Perhaps inevitably, the Quartet was subsequently presented as Shostakovich’s horrified reaction to the wartime destruction by the allies of that city; but writing to his friend Isaak Glikman, Shostakovich explained, “When I die, it’s hardly likely that someone will write a quartet dedicated to my memory. So I decided to write it myself.” He himself identified several quotations in the Quartet taken from key works from throughout his career. Whether one recognises the quotations or not, we may share with its author his “wonder at [its] marvelous unity of form”. Though it is nominally in five movements, they all segue seamlessly into one overall arch. Starting with a sombre, slow introduction (“Largo”), the Quartet suddenly takes off with a furious “Allegro molto”; tension eases slightly with the wry “Allegretto”, which gives way to another “Largo”, which contrasts belligerent chords with a more tender lyricism. The final movement returns to the sombre mood of the opening.