The Eighth Symphony premiered on November 4, 1943, in Moscow, performed by the National Symphonic Orchestra of the Soviet Union under Yevgeny Mravinsky, to whom it is dedicated.
Composition History
Shostakovich composed his Eighth Symphony in a remarkably short period, from July 2 to September 9, 1943, in Ivanovo.
Critical Reception
Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony is now considered one of his most important works, alongside Symphonies Nos. 5, 7, 10, and 15, though this was not always the case.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Shostakovich himself referred to his Seventh and Eighth Symphonies as his 'requiem'.
Compositional Technique
In the Eighth Symphony, the last three movements are seamlessly connected, a technique Shostakovich previously used in his 1940 Piano Quintet where the last two movements were linked.
Performer Biography
Andrey Boreyko, the conductor on this album, is continuing an extensive project to record all of Shostakovich's symphonies with the Orchestre National de Belgique.
Critical Reception
After its premiere, Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony was openly criticized as 'counter-revolutionary and anti-Soviet' for being tragic during a time when the Soviet Union was on the offensive in the war.
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