 The work unfolds in three movements, following a relatively straightforward tempo scheme of slow-fast-slow.The first movement, Andante, begins with a sparse pizzicato figure in the viola, accompanied by an equally stark piano line, followed by an explosive and wrenching middle section, and closing with a remembrance of the movement's opening.The second movement, Allegretto, is characterized by sharp contrasting of dry, pointed figures with smooth, connected passages; the primary material of the movement was borrowed directly from Shostakovich's unfinished opera "The Gamblers" (1942), granting the movement a vocal and dramatic quality.