The “hits” and other frequently repeated opuses of the revered composer were in other halls and other hands. The Studio also rejected the simplest idea of a monographic concert on the composer’s ninetieth birthday. Polystylism, too, was set aside – not discovered by Schnittke, but in large part thanks to him having become popular in the Russian academic music world, “although declaring all polystylistic works to be dependent on Schnittke’s authority would probably be unwise”, remarked the concert’s presenter Fyodor Sofronov. A composer, musicologist, associate professor at the Moscow Conservatory and senior researcher at the Centre for Contemporary Music, he played, as before, a significant role in shaping the programme. And as always – or almost always – with the Studio, even for an anniversary occasion the programme was made up of rarely performed works.