While the influence of Viennese Classicism is certainly palpable in Beethoven’s First Symphony, its fiery score teems with ground-breaking ideas like the seeds of a style that would assert itself ever more vigorously over the years. The driving force of Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony is something else entirely: brutal, dreadful, ruthless, a striking work summoning the devastating drama of wartime, with irony emerging as a response to suffering.