“At the London recital there was much amazement at Deutscher’s poise and skill,” Wroe writes. He doesn’t mention what the exact markers for these traits are. Do they come across through her well-bred appearance, or the satisfying incongruity of a child confidently entering the realm of the adult? In an interview with VAN, the violinist Christian Tetzlaff says, “I can understand why people are amazed by a 10-year-old juggler at the circus. But in music, it’s not about ability.”

The music critic Janice Nimura sees our fascination with child prodigies yet more cynically. She tells Solomon, “The child prodigy is the polite version of the carny freak. Gawking at the dog-faced boy in the sideshow is exploitative, but gawking at the six-year-old pianist on the ‘Today’ show is somehow okay, even inspiring, demonstrating just how high human potential can soar.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4706159&forum_id=2#41496727)