Apart from giving the premiere of the Fourteenth Symphony (and making a recording of that work that is still widely considered the best available), Rudolf Barshai maintained a close association with the music of Shostakovich through his transcriptions of four of the composer's string quartets for expanded ensemble. In the case of his transcriptions of the Eighth and Tenth string quartets, Barshai restricted himself to the resources of a string orchestra, including double basses. His arrangement of the Tenth Quartet called Symphony for Strings, Op. 118bis, is as discreet as his arrangement of the Eighth String Quartet: everything in Shostakovich's score is preserved intact, and the double basses merely reinforce the cellos in a few tuttis. For purist critics, this and the transcription of the Eighth String Quartet are the most successful—or, rather, the least offensive—of all Barshai's transcriptions.

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