I was consumed with impatience to find some way to get to Kuybïshev to hear for myself the symphony, which we knew was due to receive its first performance there on 5 March. But in wartime there was not the smallest hope of realizing the dream. However, before long it became known that the première was to be broadcast over all radio stations in the Sovietic Union, which meant that we would be able to listen to it in Tashkent. / The director of the Conservatoire, Pavel Serebryakov, had managed to get hold of a radio from somewhere, so that evening a small group of us professors found ourselves expectantly huddled round the decrepit, tinny little set. Despite the continual interference, we could hear the fateful, tragic music of the first movement, the searing lyricism of the scherzo, the savagely triumphant beauty of the Adagio and the heroic spirit of the finale. Even though many precious details were lost in the awful reception, we were all overwhelmed by the power of the music.