And in the evening, in my little house in Prades, I heard a concert program on BBC arranged by friends of mine in England. At the beginning of the program Sir Adrian Boult addressed a message to me expressing, as he put it, the greetings of thousands of musicians and music lovers in his country. He spoke about our friendship which had begun more than a quarter of century before when he, as a young man, conducted a concert in Liverpool at which I later come to Barcelona to study my conducting methods. He spoke of my many concerts in England since the turn of sitting in my room talking with me. “Maestro”, he said, “here we are in the studio with many friends, including fifty cellists. How we wish you were with us! And we hope you will soon visit us again. But we know you are with us in spirit. We are going to play a short program under the direction of your old friend, John Barbirolli. We shall play music that will carry our thoughts to you in Prades.” / Then Barbirolli conducted the fifty cellists in the playing of a composition I had written in 1927 for students at the London Violoncello School. It was a sardana, and the music for it had been inspired by the fiestas I had witnessed as a child in Vendrell with the sounds of the grallas and the singing of the villagers…. << less