[1] Solomon Cutner was born in the East End of London in 1902, the seventh child of tailors of German-Jewish and Polish-Jewish extraction.

[2] He was a child prodigy whose talent was recognized at the age of seven when, having had no formal tuition, he performed his own arrangement of the 1812 Overture on the family piano.

After establishing a reputation, he toured abroad a good deal, particularly before, during and shortly after World War II, when he gave numerous much-cherished recitals in the United States and Australia.

[3] Renowned especially for his Beethoven, which had an almost legendary status (he broadcast the entire cycle of the 32 piano sonatas for the BBC), he was in the midst of recording the complete cycle of the sonatas for EMI Records when he suffered a devastating stroke in 1956,[4] which paralysed his right arm.

He added that Solomon's rendition of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata is notable for its poetic lyricism and natural, unforced passion.