Kai Czepiczka <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>A few weeks ago my wife went to a concert where Shostakovich's "Chamber
>Symphony" op. 110a was performed.  Unfortunately I had not the opportunity
>to go there myself, but she told me that she recognized some tunes from the
>"Piano Trio No. 2" op. 67 (the beginning of the Allegretto).  So I wonder
>if op. 110 a is based on op. 67, anyone who knows this? When I looked for
>op. 110a in a book about Shostakovich I couldn't find it listed, but I
>noticed that op. 110 is his "String Quartet No. 8".  Is there any
>connection between op. 110 and 110a (I'm not familiar with the String
>Quartets)?

Op.110a is essntially a blown-up version of Shostakovich's String Quartet
No.8, Op.110, by Rudolf Barshai.  Indeed, your wife is quite right in
recognising tunes from the Piano Trio No.2, Op.67.  The 8th Quartet is
a pastiche of autobiographical elements:

* The composer's DSCH motif runs throughout the whole work;

* A quotation of the Hebrew Theme from the 4th movement of Shosty's Piano
Trio, Op.67, first heard over arpeggio-like triplet accompaniment in the
second movement;

* The third theme from the third movement is another quotation, this time
from the opening of the Cello Concerto No.1, Op.107;

* Creeping in slowly and inconspicuously a little into the 4th movement
Rondo is the First Violin with a serious, grave monotonous tune taken form
Shostakovich's own Requiem Mass;

* Second section of this 4th movement Rondo enters with the intense theme
from the composer's 11th Symphony, comprising mainly of DSCH intervals;

* In the Third section of the same movement, you hear the theme from the
Song of the RUssian Revolution, expressing solemnity, pain, misery and
bitterness; and

* Finally, in the fourth section, still from the 4th movement, there is the
theme from Katerina Ismailova in the high register of the cello.

The music then drifts into the 5th and last movement.

Lionel Choi
Singapore
http://www.singnet.com.sg/~lionelc/dummies.html