HOW TO CONGRATULATE the pianist after a concert is also a specialised technique. Milton Babbitt had developed a large repertoire of the subtly noncommittal; a good sample was "You did it again!" The compliment offered to me by another pianist that perhaps gave me the greatest pleasure was one given after a concert in Paris; "Congratulations on your great success in New York!" (a recital that had been written up with two columns and a picture in Time magazine). The greatest formula of all had been developed by Nadia Boulanger [the great teacher of compostion], who, I am told, would come backstage, hold your right hand in both of hers, look you straight in the eye, and say, "You know what I think!" (Vous savez ce que je pense!)