Eight minutes of pure musical fun

The Sixth Symphony by Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich is not according to the norm, to say the least. In such compositions, the first and last movements are almost heroic, bombastic, soaring, or some such adjective. Lighter, faster movements, and especially the slow movements come in the middle. Shostakovich starts off his 6th Symphony with a slow movement, and it is too long for the rest of the work. Except to those who are studying it from a purely musical standpoint, it begins to drag. This, however, may be by design, because the 2nd and 3rd movements are both go-getters. The second movement, especially the first part, might be the background music to the motorcycle chase scene from the movie The Great Escape. And the final (3rd) movement sounds almost like it ought to be the wind-up of some slapstick comedy - about eight minutes of pure musical hilarity. Whatever the composer's intent, both are great to listen to - just pure-de-old musical enjoyment. (The tympanist has great fun down the stretch.)

Here is a LINK to the final movement.