In the afternoon B.N.* brought in Nikita Magalov, whose piano playing is immaculately clean and whose compositions equally so but without a shred of personality. True, he is still so very young that it is impossible to predict what will become of him. I have noticed that with child composers the critical age is thirteen to fourteen, that is to say the age of puberty. This is the point at which talent either withers in the face of other interests, or establishes itself on a solid footing.