This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedantin.

When Leon Flasher was a small child, his older brother took piano lessons.

The brother didn't much care for them.

But afterwards, little Leon would climb onto the piano bench and play, note for note, the pieces his brother had practiced.

That's when his mother realized Leon was the one who should study the instrument.

Leon Fleischer made his debut at Carnegie Hall in 1944.

He was just 16 years old.

Who is to perform Brahms Piano Conco number one in D minor.

A New York Times music critic said this performance established him as one of the most remarkably

gifted of the younger generation of American keyboard artists.

He went on to perform with the world's top orchestras

throughout the 1950s and early 60s.

Pa's story here and Leon Fleischer's life is a triumph.

But then, something unexpected happening.

He started to notice an odd stiffness in his right index finger.

His fourth and fifth finger started curling under. The pain and

stiffness grew steadily worse. Within a matter of months, his career as a concert pianist was virtually over.

As you can well imagine without becoming melodramatic it was, I was in a very despairing

state of depression for about two years.

If we were to take stock of Leon Fleischer's life at this point,

we might say it was a tragedy.

But Leon Fleischer still had so much music in him, so he reinvented himself, becoming a much admired conductor and teacher.

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