Being a diligent student wasn't easy in those days. The times were hard, even the teachers didn't make much effort. For instance, Nikolayev, my professor, was a refined man, more than refined, in fact, and his tastes were recherche as well. Consequently he couldn't allow himself to appear at the Conservatory bundled up in rags. But it was cold at the Conservatory, there was no heat, so Nikolayev came up with this solution - he came late. The students would tire of waiting and leave. But I sat and waited.

Sometimes another stubborn student, Yudina, and I would get fourhand transcriptions from the library and play to pass the time.

Yudina was a strange person, and very much a loner. She gained immense popularity, first in Leningrad and then in Moscow, primarily because of her distinction as a pianist.

Nikolayev often said to me, "Go and listen to how Marusya plays." (He called her Marusya and me Mitya.) "Go and listen. In a fourvoice fugue, every voice has its own timbre when she plays."

That seemed astounding - could it be possible? I would go and listen, hoping, naturally, to find that the professor was wrong, that it was just wishful thinking. Most astounding was that when Yudina played, each of the four voices really had its own timbre, difficult as that is to imagine.

Shostakovich, quoted in Volkov (1979) p.52