As someone who has played the piano and loved classical music all of his life this is a biography one of my idols. Rubinstein and classical music were almost synonymous for me when growing up. Some of my first LPs were recordings by Rubinstein. This biography provides the background to complement my lifetime interest. ( )

The story of a fascinating musical life; from age seven to age eighty-nine Rubinstein performed in public. This book attempts to display the contradictions in his personality and some of the reasons for them. It is very detailed and the paperback edition is in quite small print; but you would hardly want to read it straight through even though Mr Sachs' style is beguiling. Rubinstein aroused violent passions, both pro- and anti-, in audiences and in other musicians; the American pianist William Kapell who was killed at the age of 31 in a plane crash is reported to have said of him "Rubinstein plays like he has a big cock". ( )