The last piece in the programme was The Rite of Spring. This I listened to with great absorption, and once again decided that I liked it better in a staged than a concert performance. Heard in concert Sacre is formless, but when it is staged this very formlessness is its own justification. It is just the other way round with Les Noces: there I find the staging unnecessary, seeming to have been tacked on. That work I should very much like to hear in concert form. After Sacre I ran into Stravinsky in the corridor, and going up to him clapped him on the shoulder and said, 'Bravo, well done, old man!' I meant 'old man' in the affectionate way the French use 'mon vieux', but Stravinsky flared up at once: 'As if you weren't an old man yourself!' he snapped, and rushed off without saying goodbye, leaving the bystanders in a state of amused astonishment.