Siberia : a name synonymous with snow, extreme cold, political prisoners (particularly the Gulags), &......culture? I have never thought of it as being a place people would choose to live, or even to visit. This book has opened a whole new view of Siberia to me. (And who knew that Siberia sent missionaries to America.....?!) What enormous contrasts, between the local ‘elites’ who did their best to replicate the life of Russia’s aristocracy, & the brutal treatment of less fortunate people. I had not hitherto associated universities, & great wealth, with Siberia. This book is not just about pianos, although they provide the leitmotif throughout. It is a wide-ranging history, some of which (eg the last days of the Romanovs) I was already familiar with, but much of it I was not. I learned so much (!), but it was history in a readable form, with nothing dry or dusty about it. The author has done a tremendous thing, in researching this project and in bringing it to fruition. That she has not done it alone is witnessed by the extensive list of acknowledgements. Thankyou, Sophy Roberts, for sharing with us your ‘obsession’; although you were not permitted to complete your planned trips, what you have done is so very worth it! NB Do visit thelostpianosofsiberia.com, to get some idea of the vast, frozen landscape : you will be amazed at the very idea of pianos ever existing there, let alone surviving...

When I saw a new book coming out called “The Lost Pianos of Siberia,” how could I help but be intrigued? I’ve played piano for almost half a century. I love travel and learning about new places. And another piano-themed book, “The Secret Piano: From Mao’s Labor Camps to Bach’s Goldberg Variations,” was a favorite that has stuck with me even years after reading it.

I requested and was happy to receive a NetGalley digital copy. Sophy Roberts, a travel writer, has a pianist friend who is searching for just the right piano. I know the feeling. But for me, this search would lead me online to a place nearby that I could afford. For Sophy, the search gives her the idea to travel to Siberia, a place she’s only dreamed of, to search for the perfect instrument.

“There were few places on the earth’s surface about which the majority of mankind have such definite ideas with so little personal knowledge as Siberia”

Sophy does a lot on various trips to Siberia. She gets interested in Siberian tigers — the Romanovs — puffins — and more, and has her papers turned down a few times when she wants to dig deeper into a certain area. I admire her tenacity and curiosity in wanting to learn so much about the places she travels. I’m like that as well.

Portions of the book have interesting information about music and musicians:

* “Hungarian composer Franz Liszt about transcribing orchestral works to the piano: ‘In matters of translation there are some exactitudes which are the equivalent of infidelities.'”
* “The fact that (Siberian pianos) survive stands as testimony to the human spirit’s need for solace. ‘Truly, there would be reason to go mad if it were not for music,’ said the Russian pianist and composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky.”
* It was interesting to read just how vital pianos were in 19th century Europe and Russia. “According to a wellthumbed guidebook, ‘How to Enjoy Paris in 1942,’ most English families who came to the city for any length of time would want to hire or buy a piano. In Britain alone, the five-year period from 1842 saw sixteen patents issues for new piano technology.” Keyboard playing was considered “a crucial accomplishment in the education of modern women.” With my piano playing, sewing, and cooking, I’ve often thought I was born about a century too late. I would have been quite a catch in Victorian times 🙂
* “‘Art belongs to the people,’ Lenin said in 1920 … the Soviet government encouraged the production of thousands of instruments, which were distributed through the USSR’s newly formed network of music schools. Piano factories opened in Siberia. Piano rental schemes were introduced for private citizens, with a buoyant market for uprights able to fit into snug Soviet apartments.” But later, “whether or not Yeltsin’s time was a good or a bad thing for Russians remains a moot point. For pianos, it was a catastrophe.”

Unfortunately for me, this book was far more about Siberia than pianos. It flies from here to there, topic to topic, mainly covering all types of Siberian minutiae. I could see Roberts’ travel writing past because the book does read much like an article in Smithsonian — some parts that interest you, large portions that don’t and are therefore skimmable.

I also had to wonder about searching for a presumably old piano in the frozen tundra of Siberia. I recall asking my piano tuner about a piano’s lifespan, and he said with a shrug, “About 50 years.” Now that’s not the wooden case itself, but the workings that make a piano sound. I’m sure you’ve all heard an old piano played — maybe one that’s been in extremes of humidity and temperature. It’s not exactly lovely. I don’t think pianos typically age in the way that perhaps violins would.

At the end of the book, Roberts still doesn’t find a piano. I was a little perplexed at this, but can happily report that she locates one in the epilogue. She says that it “continues to sing with one of the most beautiful voices I ever heard in two years of searching. Cantabile, Odgerel calls it, after its singing voice: tender, smooth, vulnerable and full of feeling, with a rich, warm bass and a silver treble, the hammers delivering keen, precise blows to achieve a perfect clarity.” Ummmm … I would love to hear it, because I just find this a little hard to believe. Roberts does go on to say that her friend (Odgerel) does keep Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Chopin and Debussy for her other pianos. I believe her on that one.

As mentioned before, I read a digital copy of this book. Regrettably, the first 17% of the book was incorrectly formatted maps that looked like the visual equivalent of getting a fax call on your phone. I’m sure this was no fault of the author’s, but it made the book even more difficult to get into. Hmmmm … like Siberia, maybe?

Recommended if you’re really curious about Siberia. Piano fans may want to look elsewhere.

Oh, there’s a gorgeous book trailer at the bottom of its website — this was more appealing to me by far than the book itself and it’s a shame the book struggled to capture the feel of the video here.

Here is a wonderful geography lesson about Siberia, which covers an eleventh of the world's landmass. Lake Baikal is the deepest lake on Earth [holding 1/5 of the world's fresh water]. The numbers are almost too large to even contemplate. The name itself conjures up vivid pictures of torture and starvation and death. It is violent. It is cold. It is startlingly beautiful.

Here, also, is some history of Siberia and the gulags.

But, most importantly, here are stories of pianos, and how they began to live in this barren area, and the composers who wrote music for them: Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Rachmaninoff.

I read this EARC courtesy of Grove Atlantic and Edelweiss. pub date 06/16/20

Sophy Roberts has written a fine, descriptive book about Siberia and it’s confounding musical fascination. A skilled writer makes reading a joy, especially true for the arts, music and culture. This nonfiction gem satisfied my curiosity about the history of Siberia. The book has a fair deal of historical information about Russia, as well. The pianos in Siberia were no doubt influenced by composers Franz Liszt of Hungary and Pyotr Tchaikovsky of Russia. I admire the author for her lengthy travel to Russia and Siberia to investigate all of this cultural history.

The hook for The Lost Pianos of Siberia is that the author is spending several years traveling through Siberia to find some pianos that had made their way to that distant land since the days when Catherine the Great had made them popular in Russia. But this is a British travel narrative, not an American one. In British travel narratives, the journey is simply an excuse to meet people, ponder philosophy and politics, and generally digress. American travel narratives are more focused and intent on meeting goals and, if possible, setting a new record of some kind.

The Lost Pianos of Siberia meanders, but it's mostly a pleasant journey, except for a few occasions such as a long interrogation by a Russian border guard. Few pianos are found, but really, that's not the point. Roberts visits fascinating places such as Akedemgorodok and the old gulags. She meets friendly and quirky characters. She learns the history of Siberia and of pianos and piano music in Russia. It's a trip I'm glad Roberts took because I will probably never go to Siberia, but had a great time hearing about the adventures she had.

(Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for a digital review copy.)

Great book. Original, absorbing, wide-ranging and entertaining. A must-read for any Russophile. I love these byways of history, the stories you never expect, could never even imagine. A detective tale, a travelogue, a cultural history, all brought together in one satisfying whole due to one woman’s obsession with pianos and discovering them in Siberia. With many historic and contemporary photographs enhancing the text, this is a well-written account, quirky and often moving, with a comprehensive bibliography for further study, and many unforgettable characters and incidents. Highly recommended.

This is a quirky, beautifully written book full of wonderful descriptions of the landscape, plants, animals and people who populate Siberia, and a fascinating history of the whole vast region, not only of the spread of the piano within it. It is well-illustrated with photographs and maps, including an attractive old map across the cover pasteboards and endpapers of the book itself.

For those wishing to explore the history, geography and/ or society of Siberia further, there is a comprehensive bibliography and also a website with videos, recordings and more photographs.

I was very pleased to receive this ebook from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed it so much, I then bought myself the hard copy.

A fascinating book about Siberia and the people who populate it. Told through a search for old pianos, this book shines a light on little known history of a region and an obsession. Very well done.

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley

There is something about Siberia that does stir the imagination. The ice, the snow, the tigers – all of the above, you know. Perhaps it is the survival of people who survive in such a place. Roberts book, despite its title is more about Siberia than about pianos. But that is okay.
The book is framed by the idea of quest for a piano, though at times it is very easy to forget that this quest. While the book does discuss the lost pianos, the book details more the inhabitants and prisoners of the land.
Roberts travels around Siberia include not only a hunt to view the famous tigers but also a visit to the location of the death of the Romanovs. The writing is more powerful when she is dealing with nature. The chapter about the tigers, for instance, contains some of the most beautiful writing about the big cats. When the pianos come back in, strangely the book seems to lag a bit.
But there is something engaging about Roberts style nonetheless. The joy of her trek and travel infuses the book and it is impossible not to get caught up in the excitement and joy. Perhaps because she finally has achieved a trip to Siberia (and perhaps this is why the request feels secondary). It was a good read.