Had the capital of Turkey been much larger, the incident might have passed unnoticed, but before long all of Ankara seemed to be talking about Idil Biret, the amazing four-year-old daughter of a local sugar-refinery official. One day in 1946 little Idil sat down at the piano, and without a note of music before her, dashed off a Bach piece she had just heard over the radio. The story gave newspapers and music lovers an idea: Why couldn't the state send Turkey's child prodigies abroad for proper study?
The idea eventually reached the ears of the National Assembly, which in 1948 passed...