Arthur Rubinstein was seven when he first played the piano in public, and performed his last concert at the age of eighty-nine. A musical genius, friend to the famous and bon viveur, he spoke eight languages, loved many women and inspired admiration from fans worldwide. Yet Rubinstein was a man of contradictions and tempestuous personality. Harvey Sachs researched his book over a six-year period and in ten countries. The result is judicious and detailed, but also richly coloured and enormously entertaining.