This month, world-renowned pianist Mitsuko Uchida recommends a book close to her heart.
My first language was Japanese. At the age of twelve I arrived in Vienna; I read Hamlet for the first time in German, in the wonderful Schlegel translation.
In my life as a travelling piano player, my companion is the selection of Shakespeare’s Poetry by Ted Hughes (Faber). This is not just sonnets and songs, but strong passages from the plays, the well known and the undiscovered. The book is small and light; the words take your breath away.
Interestingly, multi-lingual Mitsuko Uchida is the first person to have picked Shakespeare for us as their Book of the Month. Thank you to Mitsuko for her lovely recommendation!