I [Isaak Glikman] accompanied Shostakovich and Irina Antonovna to a concert in the Small Hall of the Philharmonia. On their way back to Repino in the car, before dropping me off at my home on Bolshaya Pushkarskaya Street, Shostakovich said, 'à propos' the concert we had just heard: “That C minor Quartet of Brahms is such a wishy-washy piece. But on the other hand what magnificent symphonies he wrote! If often happens that feeble things come from the same hand as other things that are incredibly strong. Also, I find Beethoven’s Ninth Quartet has lost none of its power to transport me.’