A beautifully unsettling story.

[annode]

I just finished reading this story about a man's life as a piano prodigy and lover of music.
He lives in my home town Philadelphia, and although we never crossed paths, I was very surprised to read that he was in the same piano tuning/rebuilding college course class with me!
I found this a very realistically gripping story about the trials and tribulations of this man's life, fighting between his dedication to music for notoriety to please his parents, and a new found peace just in the personal enjoyment of music.

He mentions forgetting how to play this piece in competition.

Here is the article.

[synkrotron]

Thank you for posting Barry

[Pharos]

What an incredible piece. Great range of dynamics and emotion.

[annode]

Thanks for the comments. I'm happy some ppl took the time to read the article.
Even though his story is extreme, and not many of us are musical prodigies or have such responsibilities to ailing parents, but many of us can relate in as much as ppl who have taken music so seriously in their lives find there is an antagonistic battle between our love for music, the demands for learning the skills, practicing and getting out there and playing your instrument as opposed to all of the necessary things we need to learn in life in order to basically succeed and hopefully be happy.

Trying to live in the world of the arts is to make sacrifices and many become torn between two worlds and never fully master one or the other. This story I believe tells a similar story, but in the end he finds a suitable place to be where he can finally be happy, satisfied and balanced in each world.