‘Belgian National Orchestra & Hermus’

Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony is the second of three wartime symphonies the Soviet composer wrote between 1941 and 1945. This colossal work, which stemmed from the darkest days of World War II and the infamous Battle of Stalingrad, is perhaps Shostakovich’s most tragic composition. In five movements, Shostakovich tries to come to terms with excessive violence and endless suffering, both emotionally and philosophically. Unlike Mahler’s Second symphony, also written in the key of C minor, Shostakovich makes no room for resurrection. The work ends pianissimo, in a whisper that seems to evoke a defeated survival, like an orphan returning home.