At ten o'clock we had the first rehearsal of the second cast with the orchestra. Tcherepnin said to me, 'Be demanding, insist on what you want; don't let either the orchestra or the singers get away with anything. This is not to say you should shout at them, but you know all the nuances and all the tempi so keep them up to the mark the whole time.'

Up on the podium I felt fine, a little nervous here and there of course, and there were a few places where I was not absolutely secure. The ensembles were not very good: for several of the singers it was their first time singing with orchestra, and they either lost their place or failed to look at me. Tcherepnin though the finales of the second and fourth acts left something to be desired, but on the whole I had demonstrated that I was capable of conducting the whole score well, the only thing I have to do is get myself into shape. Basically I got very tired - conducting a complete opera is to an extent a skill that comes with experience.