Dearest Fergie,

I don't know what it [the Piano Sonata] was like in reality, but over the wireless it sounded a splendid performance and I thought Myra got all the bite and tang that you yourself want and get. It's a grand work, and I hope Myra will go on and on and on playing it. And after all, what big-scale work of the last 30 or 40 years have we got to touch it? Though I have a liking for some of the Ireland Sonata, you can have it, and the Dale, and the numerous Bax ramblings- and the lot of them aren't worth a page of yours. However, comparisons are odorous [sic].

I was very surprised to find notices of those Bagatelles [G.F.'s: 1st performance, Pauline Juler and H.F. at N.G. Concerts. 15.1.43] in both The Times and

D. Telegraph. Favourable ones, too. Something must indeed be going wrong now that I can no longer write [because of his war-work]! Well, you know how grateful I am for the good send-off you've given them, and though I've made it clear enough that they are only trifles, the performance has been one of the few things to which I've been able to look forward whilst this interminable dreary waste land has to be crossed. My only fear is that I may get bogged down in the middle. At 40 it's a bad thing to give up entirely, and I'm only grateful that you are able to keep up at least one side of your work, even though it's not the one that matters most to you and the country.

What are the Rawsthorne ‘Bagatelles’ which Denis has recorded. Surely not published? Well, I'll be along on Thursday evening. Tiresome for you, but a straw for me getting that work scored. Joy sends heaps of love. G.

[H.F. was released from the R.A.F. on 17 March 1943, in order to devote all his time to the National Gallery Concerts.]

Dearest Fergie,

The X-ray seems to have been satisfactory and only showed old scars. It's all very odd.