In his book Von der Einheit der Musik ['The Oneness of Music'], Ferruccio Busoni devoted about one and a half pages to the piano under the heading: 'Man achte das Klavier' ['Respect the piano!']. In a highly laconic and perfected style he gives such a clear and accurate description of the piano's characteristics that it is all I can do not to give it in full.

Heinrich Neuhaus, The Art of Piano Playing

I quote too much. Give me a good line - what am I saying? Give me a good paragraph - even a Proustian one - and I'll shove it into my own prose regardless of how tiresome that is. Take my last book, on the satirist David Sedaris. Not only do you get more Proust than you'd ever care for, you get an awful lot of Sedaris - pure, unadulterated Sedaris.

LRB 22 May 2008 | PDF Download