IDAGIO | Schubert: Death and the Maiden - Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony in C Minor 0822231178668

Featuring

Roman Simovic
LSO String Ensemble
Franz Schubert
Dmitri Shostakovich

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Compositional Technique

Shostakovich's Chamber Symphony is permeated by his musical fingerprint, the motif 'DSCH' (representing his initials in German musical notation), which is embedded throughout the work.

Composition History

Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8, which forms the basis for the Chamber Symphony, was written in just three days in 1960 while he was visiting Dresden.

Performer Biography

Roman Simovic, the director of the LSO String Ensemble, became the Leader of the London Symphony Orchestra in 2010 after previously being Leader of Camerata Salzburg.

Composition History

Mahler only completed the second movement of his Schubert arrangement; the other three movements were arranged by scholar Donald Mitchell and composer David Matthews from Mahler's annotations.

Instruments

Roman Simovic performs on a J. B. Guadagnini violin, which is generously loaned to him by Jonathan Moulds.

Composition History

Gustav Mahler, a composer known for his Resurrection Symphony, planned to transcribe Schubert's 'Death and the Maiden' quartet for string orchestra in 1894.

Composer Biography

Shostakovich wrote his String Quartet No. 8 with tears streaming down his face, intending it as his own memorial, as he believed no one else would write a quartet dedicated to him.