Allegretto

Shostakovich's Opus 110a is based on the composer's String Quartet No. 8, which Rudolf Barshai expanded into a chamber symphony in 1967 with the composer's consent. Shostakovich composed the quartet in 1960 after visiting Dresden, where he had come to finish the film music for 'Five Days - Five Nights'. Stunned and touched by the amount of destruction the city had suffered in February 1945, he wrote the quartet in only three days and dedicated it 'To the memory of the victims of fascism and war'. Soloists Stefan Bornscheuer, violin and Chihiro Saito, cello. Fono Forum: 'High musical standard'.