The 15th string quartet, his last, was written in the hospital a year before his death in 1975. It consists of six movements, all adagio, that are full of memory, at times sad, but more often anguished and reflective of the composer's skeptical self-appraisal. It is generally considered to be his requiem for himself. The text comes from Shostakovich's letters to Isaak Glikman, the Russian dramaturg who was close to Shostakovich from the early 1930s until the composer's death. The performance ends with the playing of the 35-minute 15th quartet with the musicians in Soviet era suits facing the audience as if each were directly communicating a line of the composer's heart.
Tickets are still available.