Yesterday and the day before (5^th and 6^th) my Symphonic Dedication to October was performed at the Philharmonia. Let me describe it to you in detail. There were only six rehearsals. The first was a preliminary one and I was not even informed, but I attended all the others and gave Malko instructions. I didn’t think I need mention the sound: everyone liked it, especially the beginning and middle section. It turned out very well. The choir harmonised excellently. By the way, there is a short interlude in the choir part after the words ‘…the name of our fate was “struggle"'. The strings categorically refused to play pizzicato. I would stake my like on the fact that pizzicato is playable, but when a young composer writes something difficult the players always say it is impossible. I had to give away, and agreed to let them play it arco. It turned out fine. But I still hope that someday the passage will be played properly. In his Requiem, Mozart wrote a trombone solo which no trombonist at the time could play. So they replaced it by a bassoon. Nowadays the trombone copes with the solo perfectly. / Both concerts were preceded by meetings. On the 5^th the meeting began at 9 o’clock and finished at 11. My Symphony was not played until 11.45, by which time the orchestra – and the audience- were exhausted by having to wait so long. Despite all that, everything went splendidly. The choir, the orchestra and the conductor all rose to the occasion. The success was quite considerable. I was called onto the stage four times, and even then they went on clapping, but I did not go up again. I was hoping that it would go even better on the 6^th, but it turned out differently. After six rehearsals and two concerts the orchestra was dead beat. That evening the meeting started at 7 and finished at 9. They started playing my piece at 10.15. It came off considerably worse this time / one could feel the exhaustion of the performers, who put less into it than on the 5^th. The audience, too, was tired after the meeting. It was fairly successful, but less so than on the 5^th. I took two bows.