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- The piece was written shortly after two traumatic events in the life of the composer: the first presentation of debilitating muscular weakness that would eventually (in 1965) be diagnosed as a rare form of polio, and his reluctant joining of the Communist Party. According to the score, it is dedicated "to the victims of fascism and war"; his son, Maxim, interprets this as a reference to the victims of all totalitarianism, while his daughter Galina says that he dedicated it to himself, and that the published dedication was imposed by the Russian authorities. Shostakovich's friend, Lev Lebedinsky, said that Shostakovich thought of the work as his epitaph and that he planned to commit suicide around this time.
All of String Quartet No. 8 is about as intense or compelling as this one.
Nice call. One of my favorites. Personally I think the rendition you posted is a little slow and dry though. Here's one of my favorite performances of it:
coffeesp00ns · 3846 days ago · link ·
supposedly written as a suicide note. it also contains a bunch of quotes to his previous works (one of his Cello Concerti for example)