The premiere was 25 years late. In West Berlin's ultramodern Conservatory Concert Hall one night last week, a large crowd gathered for the first performance of Piano Concerto No. 4, written by Russia's late great Sergei Prokofiev in 1931. At the keyboard was East Berlin's Pianist Siegfried Rapp, impeccable in white tie and tails. There was only one odd thing about the soloist: his right sleeve was empty and pinned to his coat.
Rapp is the latest of a grim little line of musical specialists: the one-armed pianists. Pieces for one hand used to be merely pleasant musical oddities, but...
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