Allegro. He is born on Musikalnyi Peruelok Music Street in Kiev. His uncle is a music critic, his mother a brilliant amateur pianist. At the age of ten he memorizes the piano scores of Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Parsifal. Clearly, little Vladimir is a musical prodigy.
Fortunately, Papa Horowitz has plenty of rubles. Vladimir is sent to the Kiev Conservatory to prepare for a leisurely musical career so leisurely that when he graduates the family makes plans for him to study another ten years before contemplating concert work.
But in Moscow there are other forces, other plans. When the...