Portrait of the artist: Mitsuko Uchida, pianist

'A French critic once said I played like a sewing machine. I'll always remember that'What got you started?During the second world war, my father somehow got the idea that his children should learn the piano. After the war, my mother picked him up at Tokyo harbour – he was a diplomat and had been away for six years, first in Germany, then in America, where he was imprisoned for three months. The first thing he said was: "Why aren't the children having piano lessons?" So my sister and brother ...

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