At seven o'clock Mama, Mlle Roblin and I went together to Pavlovsk where we found a large audience for the concert, including Kal surrounded by his musician friends Saminsky, Shaposhnikov, Kryzhanovsky and others. Myaskovsky promised to get my Ballade published by Zimermann with Kryzhanovsky's help, since I do not have so much as a kopeck in my pockets and I refuse to let Bessel have it for 50 roubles. We went into the hall; I sat with my own group; separately from Myaskovsky.

The symphony began very well; the 4/6 passage in B flat sounding splendid, although the Allegro struck me as a little dull. The second subject was ravishing. I had been worried that the public might find the symphony tedious, and certainly it was not helped by the way Aslanov dragged it out at inordinate length. There was rather a lot of substandard instrumental playing. The second movement sounded wonderful, the Finale less good but lively and not boring even though not everything came off impeccably.