“Piatigorsky is inexorably relevant to me. I was deeply connected with him, both as a student and as I became his biographer. He knew truths about music, life, and playing the cello that are constant and timeless.

His number one concern was to urge us to become who we really were as musicians, and as human beings. He told us that if our aim was to imitate someone else, which is a common habit among impressionable young musicians, the best we could hope would be a second-rate version of that person. 

He asked us, “Why not become the best of you?” and then sent us out into the world to become the best we could be, and try to enjoy it. To be our best, however, is not an easy task for young cellists—there is a lot of deeply honest work and confrontational struggle. The joy we get is fleeting, as we rarely achieve to our complete satisfaction. His own life and compassion toward us served as a model and an inspiration for our journeys forward.”

-Terry King, Strings Magazine 2016

Full article can be found here