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Interred with honours in the Composers’ Corner of Moscow’s Novodevichy Cemetery close to Dmitri Shostakovich who influenced much of his works, German-Soviet symphony writer Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (*1934 – †1998) chose for his gravestone the musical notation fermata—the pause or hold sign, indicating an enduring and profound (fortissimo) rest. Here’s the energetic overture from his Gogol Suite as a sample of his music.