Just before going on, I was handed a telegram. I was amazed, it came from Serge, my Gurzuf friend, writing from Oryol to regret his inability to attend the concert. This cheered me up no end. 

At this point an attendant came to inform me that Aslanov had already been on the podium for some time, so I hurried on to the stage, my entrance being greeted with applause. I was quite calm at the beginning of the Concerto, but in the middle of the cadenza began to lose my nerve, and went wrong in the colossalo. In fact it sounded fine, but the truth is I was improvisng whole passages rather than playing exactly what I had written. There was some applause at the end of the first movement, so I got up and bowed. Aslanov, as I had requested, made a long pause between the first and second movement, smoothed down his hair, wiped his nose, and eventually under cover of his handkerchief smiled at me and asked if it was all right to continue. I inclined my head.