Before my arrival, Shostakovich had been listening to Boris Tishchenko play through his gigantic new Fourth Symphony. Shostakovich had praise for the third, fourth and fifth movements, but was rather more reserved about the first and second movements. He said: I'm not generally very talkative. I don't like engaging in analysis and conversation about works I have heard, and I'm not good at it. All I do is listen to music that is presented to me. I either like it, or I don't. That's all.'