Paul Wittgenstein was an Austrian-born concert pianist who became famous for his ability to play with just his left hand, after losing his right arm during the First World War. He devised unusual pedal and hand-movement techniques that allowed him to perform in ways previously regarded as impossible for a one-handed artist.
But Wittgenstein’s greatest accomplishment was to commission a series of works for orchestra and left-handed pianist by Richard Strauss, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel and Benjamin Britten.
In this hour, the pianist’s incredible story, and selections from some of the works written for him.