I [Isaak Glikman] visited Shostakovich in Repino, where he had come for a month to be treated by a woman doctor. He revealed this in a gloomy tone of voice, but over dinner he cheered up and started to tell me about a revival of 'Katerina Izmailova' at the Kiev Opera House. He said: 'This production was like a holiday for me. Orchestra, singers, conductor and even the producer were all splendid. Altough Simeonov does not have a particularly original personality, he is a fine conductor. By a strange, and I am sure quite fortuitous circumstance, the performance they gave on 28 January was on the anniversary of the "Muddle Instead of Music" article on the same day in 1936.' << less