Of course I am very sorry that you are not coming. On the other hand, it may be all to the good: I get extremely nervous before a première, and an anxious man is egotistical and bad company for all who are forced to associate with him. Also, I do want you to have a good rest over the May holidays. / I am rather surprised myself by my own anxiety. After all, it is not as if I haven’t been through plenty of premières in my time. Some of them have been good, some of them bad. David Oistrakh and Sviatoslav Richter play [the work] extremely well. So well, in fact, that perhaps there is no point in being anxious about it. << less