New Prodigy

The big, moonfaced youngster marched onstage in Carnegie Hall with the self-assurance of a veteran. He gave the audience a confident smile, then signaled Conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos to launch the New York Philharmonic-Symphony into the Paganini Concerto No. 1. From his first bow strokes, 15-year-old Michael Rabin proved he had something to be confident about. His technique was effortless, his tone strong and clean, his style and phrasing in the brilliant manner of Heifetz and Isaac Stern.

It was a proud day for Michael, but perhaps a prouder one for his father. At the end of the performance, Conductor Mitropoulos strode to the first-violin section and shook hands with George Rabin, 51, a Philharmonic fiddler for almost 30 years.

The Rabins, both professional musicians, were careful not to push Michael; they even tried to hold him back a bit. But as father Rabin puts it, his talent was "too big." At three, Michael proved his absolute pitch by casually identifying the exact tones of steam whistles and automobile horns. At seven, he started piano lessons ("very good too"). Then, at the house of a friend, he found a half-size violin. He asked for it and got it. By his eighth birthday, he was practicing four hours a day.

Nowadays, practicing and performing take so much time that Michael has to get his schooling from a tutor. A cocky, self-assured lad, he has already learned 20 concertos, including what he calls "the standard box-office concertos"--Brahms, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky. He will soon get a chance to perform all of them. His parents are allowing him a limited number of engagements (24 this season), mostly with symphony orchestras. He likes playing in public. "Stage fright? What's that?" Does he like turning pro so young? "Oh, yes. I like going from city to city."

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