Tcherepnin first played through the entire work without me, and then I joined for a complete run-through, which was played without a break. Tcherepnin got carried away and forced the tempi to such an extent that in some passages I had no time to play all the notes. Sometimes he did not follow me, but I decided not to stop him or annoy him with remarks at the time, saving them for later, especially in view of the fact that there are to be four rehearsals for the cocnert and Tcherepnin has promised to find time for the Concerto in all of them. He is making tremendous efforts, has thrown himself heart and soul into the piece and considers it the most interesting item in the Graduation Concert programme. Amazingly, the orchestra's playing is in no way inferior to either the Koussevitzky or the Pavlovsk performances, and a total of six rehearsals bids fair to guarantee an excellent performance at the Graduation Concert. There were a lot of Theory students listening to the rehearsal, and some of them said to me afterwards, 'Your Concerto is an absolute delight!'