Kammersinfonie in c-minor, Op. 110a

The Chamber Symphony op. 110a is an arrangement of Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8, composed in July 1960 in Dresden over the course of just a few days. Deeply autobiographical, the work incorporates quotations from Shostakovich’s earlier compositions as well as the DSCH motif – a musical cryptogram of his own name. It was written in response to the devastation of Dresden and in the midst of personal and political turmoil.

Rudolf Barshai, a close associate of Shostakovich and a respected violist and conductor, arranged the quartet for string orchestra with great fidelity to the composer’s idiom. The resulting Chamber Symphony enhances the dramatic and symphonic scope of the original while retaining its intimate character.