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Read or watch, either one you will be happy. The real question is, should you read or watch?
Differences
1. Audio - If you watch the Anime, you get to listen to the pieces and it gives you a much better understanding of the feelings of the various pieces and technical difficulty of playing them. Unless you go out of your way to find the specific piece and listen to it, you can't fully get it with the manga.
2. Drama - The manga has little to no drama, there isn't any competing affections or heartbreaks. Its very simple and lighthearted. The Anime focuses much more on the ... relationships and creating drama around them. Certain characters are much more prevalent, like the R*S Orchestra Folks.
3. Length - The anime is about 2x the length. Manga is much shorter, most of the "music playing" is covered in a page or 2, you can only show so many musical notes and the artist dramatically playing their instrument in so many ways. The Anime has long musically segments with the actual music playing in the background.

Manga: 8/10 VS Anime: 9/10
I prefer to have the matching audio, and I like the more dramatized version the anime presents. But the stories are nearly identical, so if you don't care for classical music and you are looking for more of a drama free read, go with the manga. Just pick one, because its a great story.

Just pretend that the 3 main characters are 17/18 and it's a great Yakuza/Action/Romance with great pacing.

Not perfect by any means and you can definitely tell it's age in the art, characters, and themes (Would probably get canceled if released today)

Got some nudity, which is whatever, but makes you kind of concerned when you remember that she's 14... So I just make her 18 and move on.

Setting is very interesting, quazi futuristics Japan. But its never to outlandish, and always added to the plot instead of subtracting.

Chapters are nice and long so you feel satisfied with the story and all the characters.

Ending is a ... bit rushed, which is what brings it down from a 10.

Still a good read, would recommend.