Musical prodigies – and, often, their eye-watering daily routines, carefully managed by their guardians – have fascinated audiences for centuries. But while tweens can often have extraordinary technical faculty on their chosen instrument, lots of repertoire requires a deeper, more thoughtful approach that can only be achieved with emotional maturity. I once interviewed former violin prodigy Sarah Chang after she had recorded the Bruch concerto for the first time. She explained that, although she was note perfect (from memory) in her teens, she wanted to wait until her twenties until she committed the work to disc because she wanted the emotional dexterity, too. Music expresses experience, and the highs and lows that life entails.
There are of course exceptions, with the most famous being Mozart, who showed incredible skill at…
