In July and August of 1957, Erik and Diana were guests of the USSR. They travelled via Helsinki, where Diana had the utmost trouble preventing Erik from ringing Sibelius at 2.15 a.m., having looked him up in the telephone book. Since Chisholm was going to conduct and required rehearsal time, they were part of an advance guard from Britain and found themselves in the company of John Osborne and his troupe, on their way to perform Look Back in Anger.

When they arrived in Moscow, Kabalevsky greeted them. They were given a suite in the Ukrainia hotel and a chauffeur-driven car, which was frequently mobbed, and both were showered with flowers and kisses. They met Bulganin and Khrushchev at a reception in the Kremlin, and on his last appearance conducting the State Orchestra in the Bolshoi Hall, Erik was given an ovation and was embraced by every single member of the orchestra. He also served on a jury, judging 200 different works under the chairmanship of Shostakovich, gave a series of lectures, and the Minister of Culture offered to publish the entire 200 songs in the Celtic Song Book – a proposal which, though only partly realised, put his own and his adopted countries to shame. He was impressed by the student residences and grant system, and he noted the Russians’ love of classical music and the excellent supply of it in record shops, and himself bought over seventy LPs. He also visited the Lenin Library, the Scriabin Museum (which he was able to present with a rare recording of Scriabin playing some of his preludes) and watched Obraztsov's puppets.

Of course, Chisholm was always well to the left of centre in his political views and was ready to find the best in the Soviet world, even commenting with apparent approval on the crowded attendances in the churches, despite not being a Christian.

Agnes Walker was with them, to perform Chisholm's Hindustani Piano Concerto: ‘Had my first concert last night: which went with a bang, even if Agnes Walker made a hell of a mess of the solo piano part.’ The reason for this was her mistaken attempt to perform it from memory, having been told this was expected in Russia.