World War II was very much underway in 1943 when Dmitri Shostakovich composed his Eighth Symphony. The Soviet Union seemed to be turning back the Nazi invasion, but Russian soldiers still were being mowed down in obscene numbers. At home, artists were wrestling with official demands for “affirming” art, not challenging or confrontational creations. Official disapproval could be literally fatal. The Eighth Symphony is a product of this difficult time and its troubled emotions. An hour long, it’s not easy listening, but neither do we expect to be comforted by a TV documentary about the period. Music is no more...