After I had been in Kuybïshev a few days, Shostakovich acceded to my request that he play through the whole of the Seventh Symphony on the piano. He played wonderfully, bringing out many of the subtlest nuances in the second and third movements. At the end of the Finale, he heaved a little sigh, got up from the piano stool and said: ‘On the whole, I thin I’m happy with the symphony. But you know, when I was writing the Finale, the place was full of rumours and I got a great deal of advice from people here, some of which I had asked for and some I hadn’t.’ And he proceeded to tell me many details on this subject that he had omitted from his letters.