2024/018: The Lost Pianos of Siberia — Sophy Roberts

2024/018: The Lost Pianos of Siberia — Sophy Roberts

Confronting memory and repression, I knew that however hard I wanted my piano hunt to celebrate all that is magnificent about Siberia, much of what I was looking for was tied up with a terrifying past. I needed to heed the warning I was given by a brave Russian journalist early on: you have to know why you’re ignoring things you don’t want to hear, what should be remembered, and why people fall silent and try to forget. [loc. 3130]

Sophy Roberts is a travel journalist, who accepted a challenge to find her friend -- Mongolian pianist Odgerel Sampilnorov -- one of the 'lost pianos' of Siberia, a piano that might better withstand the harsh climate of the Mongolian steppe than the modern instrument Odgerel is playing. Roberts explores the importance of piano music in Russian culture, the fashion for European music, and the ways in which pianos (both European- and Russian-built) migrated east with settlers, exiles and artists. ( Read more... )