History has bequeathed a number of pieces for the left hand, but they were generally occasioned by particular circumstances. Skryabin composed two pieces for the left hand when his right had been put out of action by over-practising. Then there are the concertos by Ravel, Prokofiev and others who responded to commissions from the wealthy pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm during the First World War. In more recent times the famous duo of Cyril Smith and Phyllis Sellick played music for three hands after Smith’s right arm was paralysed by a stroke in the Fifties. But Godowsky still had use of both hands, and he deployed them fabulously in playing that was lauded by his peers.