Never had there been such a hunt for young U.S. pianists. For two years the Rachmaninoff Fund's regional judges had been screening them. Last week, in Manhattan, the national finals were on.
The weary five who had managed to slip through all the screens into the final pool pounded and rippled, an hour each, while out front their teachers, families and friends clenched their hands. The finalists had been allowed to choose their own repertories from a list—ranging from Bach to Gershwin—that might have stumped the late Sergei Rachmaninoff himself. After five straight hours,...
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