Author Description

A LASTING RECORD tells the unique true story of two separate but interconnected lives: New Yorker William Kapell, America's greatest home-grown concert pianist, and Roy Preston, Melbourne-based Myer cosmetics salesman and classical music aficionado. Kapell and Preston are united by one single acetate, containing a Chopin sonata recorded by Roy from Kapell's last concert in the regional Australian city of Geelong. With a mix of detective work and imagation, from this single acetate, Stephen Downes tells a spellbinding tale of the greatest pianist who almost never was, and his eccentric and passionate fan.