 This was part of an increasing musical conservatism on his part (his "musical conscience," as he put it), under which he now scrutinized his music and that of others as well.Compositions by his former compatriots in The Five were not immune.While working on his first revision of Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov", in 1895 he would tell his amanuensis, Vasily Yastrebtsev, "It's incredible that I ever could have liked this music and yet it seems there was such a time."