A piano competition should not feel this tense, but the new K-drama Four Hands, Two Sonatas somehow manages to make Every performance feel like a High-stakes confrontation. The pressure on these students goes well beyond getting the notes right or beating the person sitting across from them. Music is tied to their families, their insecurities, their pasts and, for some of them, their entire sense of self-worth. Even when nobody is performing, there is a constant feeling that something could go wrong. Six episodes in, the tvN and Netflix drama has settled into an absorbing coming-of-age story, using the demanding world of classical music to explore what happens when young people are expected to grow up before they are ready.
