The last rehearsal before the general rehearsal. The symphony went pretty badly and I ran out of steam trying to bring it into some kind of order. Nevertheless, Mme Tcherepnin complimented me on the progress I have made as a conductor, producing a flood of allusions to Greek mythology which, to my shame, I am ill equipped to interpret. Tilya Hansen plays wonderfully and with exemplary rhythm, she is easy to work with; Shklyaryevskaya* is a more difficult proposition although this performance also went well. The main question mark is over the symphony. In proportion as my strengths as a conductor increase, the closer to my hear become works I perform, and I very much want the symphony to have a good performance.