Composed during the war-torn summer of 1943, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8 in C minor attempts to take a journey from tragedy to triumph. It is the same C minor to C major trajectory we encounter in Beethoven’s Fifth, Brahms’ First, Bruckner’s Eighth, and Mahler’s Second. Yet for many listeners, the victory feels hollow. Perhaps there is even a hint of sarcasm.
Shostakovich described his Seventh and Eighth Symphonies as “requiems,” written amid terror and suppression. In the words of the composer, the Second World War descended on the Soviet Union as “a horrible extermination machine.”
We explored the Eighth Symphony in a previous post. Now, let’s return to this music and listen to a concert performance, recorded on May 9, 2025, featuring French-Armenian conductor Alain Altinoglu and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. Altinoglu and the ensemble are currently in the process of recording all 15 of Shostakovich’s Symphonies.