But considered together, the two series show a very clear, if slow, change of emphasis throughout his life: after the end of the war he composed six symphonies and thirteen quartets, whereas up to that time he had produced nine symphonies and only two quartets, and this shift is further reflected by the fact that the earlier quartets tend to be symphonic in conception, with the late symphonies becoming more rarefied and personal, The fact that the composition of the First Quartet (1938) took place after that of the Fifth Symphony immediately demonstrates that Shostakovich the young Socialist Revolutionary never found representation in the medium of the string quartet. Such a claim can, however, be made for the fifteen symphonies, the first of which was completed when he was nineteen. Shostakovich’s fifteen quartets do not span his entire creative career, so they cannot therefore be looked upon as a complete record of his development as a composer.
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