One of the most idiosyncratic and popular of 20th-Century classical pianists was the Russian-born virtuoso Shura Cherkassky.

Tiny, mischievous and mercurial, he never played the same work or the same passage the same way twice. His technique was brilliant and his repertoire vast and eclectic, ranging from Bach to Gershwin and taking in almost everyone else between.

Cherkassky scorned possessions, living in a tiny, overheated hotel suite with a rented piano. He rarely attended concerts other than his own and would spend three months a year away from the keyboard, lying on tropical beaches.

He never touched alcohol, followed a strict diet and was fanatical about swimming and massage. His brief marriage to an actress foundered over his obsessive practice - exactly four hours a day, not a minute more or less.

Cherkassky disliked the recording studio, though several live recordings of his playing exist.

Although he often took liberties with the score and his vagaries sometimes went too far, his playing always contained poetry, spontaneity and excitement. He died in 1995, aged 88.

-Roger Moodiman, Marine Parade, Brighton