 On 10 August 1948 , Grainger appeared at the London Proms , playing the piano part in his Suite on Danish Folksongs with the London Symphony Orchestra under Basil Cameron . On 18 September he attended the Last Night of the Proms , standing in the promenade section for Delius 's Brigg Fair . Over the next few years several friends died : Gardiner in 1950 , Quilter and Karen Holten in 1953 . In October 1953 Grainger was operated on for abdominal cancer ; his fight against this disease would last for the rest of his life . He continued to appear at concerts , often in church halls and educational establishments rather than major concert venues . In 1954 , after his last Carnegie Hall appearance , Grainger 's long promotion of Grieg 's music was recognised when he was awarded the St. Olav Medal by King Haakon of Norway . However , a growing bitterness was becoming evident in his writings and correspondence ; in a letter to his lifelong friend , the Danish composer Herman Sandby , he bemoaned the continuing ascendency in music of the " German form " , and asserted that " all my compositional life I have been a leader without followers " . 
