Shostakovich was passionately interested in his student’s compositions and was thrilled, sometimes even transported, by those he thought successful. I remember him one day emerging from the Conservatoire and insisting that I immediately come and listen to some songs by Yury Sviridov. Radiant with pleasure, he sat down at the piano without a score and played them through from memory several times, insisting that they were not merely splendid compositions in themselves and evidence of real talent, but works of genius – this was the term he used. It was always the same with him: indifference to art was anathema to him, and there was something magnificent in his passions. The music of Venyamin Fleishman, the composer of the opera 'Rothschild’s Violin', moved and astonished him by the delicacy with the fledgling composer had penetrated the spirit and essence of Chekov’s many-layered story. << less