ABSTRACT
In the marginally less political field of classical music there was always some traffic in both directions. Whilst professional engagements were in the hands of other agencies, the association’s concern was to ensure that musical visitors in either direction were offered the widest possible interpersonal contacts. The association’s 1979 annual review began by remarking that there had been ‘some difficulty during the year in getting our Soviet counterpart organisations to carry out agreed arrangements’, but it then went on to report how the tempo and scope of its work had nevertheless been maintained. It began with activity in the field of music. But even if the results cannot be quantified, there cannot be a loss in coming to appreciate better how common human qualities thrive in different circumstances – sometimes, one feels in Russia, the more glowingly for the darkness that threatens to close in.
