Over the past eight years I’ve had more than a passing acquaintance with the music of Dmitri Shostakovich. With the two string quartets that I’ve been part of, I’ve performed the quartets nos. 1, 3, 8, 9 and 15. In various orchestras I’ve performed the symphonies nos. 1, 4, 5, 7 and 9 (coincidentally, DSCH wrote 15 quartets and 15 symphonies).
With this experience of performing his works, plus listening to and studying many of his other works, I am convinced that the Eighth Symphony is a very different sort of animal than all the rest of his output.