Having once felt a certain attraction towards modernism, I came to the firm conclusion that contemporary modernist trends had no future. It was a dead art, which in fifty years produced no living shoots. Modernist art won no sympathy for itself either here or abroad, despite the vociferous campaign waged there in its favour. This makes it all the more distressing that talented composers and genuine artists occasionally came under its influence. One such composer was Alban Berg, whom I knew personally and whose integrity I had no reason to doubt. I was deeply impressed by his opera Wozzeck, which was performed in the twenties at the Leningrad Mariinsky Theatre. Berg was no slave to fashion, but still the paralysing effect of modernist ideas shacked his great talent and prevented him from giving full vent to his ideas.