Ms Fadiman and Mr Epstein both belong in the line of informal, conversational essayists, their artfulness disguised in apparent spontaneity.

ECONOMIST: Small but perfectly formed | The

As the years passed, the critics found that his sound described by fellow Juilliard classmate Jeaneane Dowis as so natural it seemed to come "from the birds and the bees and the trees and the air" had begun to lose its luster, and his interpretations some of their artfulness.

WSJ: Van Cliburn: A Russian Was Supposed to Win