Feb. 9 – (Friday) –
Days of confusion & doubt & self-disgust.
[Burchfield bracketed this next section in red pencil.]
[The Szostakowicz Symphony grows in interest. In form it is classic, I should say – in orchestration it is “modern” — but essentially it remains a romantic symphony. It has some very powerful, compelling rhythms in the first & fourth movements.
[The third movement suggests to me a man alone in the immensity of nature, – without a belief in God, he is terrified at his alone-ness in the vastness of the universe, and longs terribly to rediscover his creator.] ]
Charles E. Burchfield, February 9, 1940