The Lost Pianos of Siberia by Sophy Roberts: Book Review

The Lost Pianos of Siberia by British writer/journalist/travel writer Sophy Roberts attempts to tell the stories behind Siberia’s most socially significant pianos.

While on a trip to Mongolia, Sophy met a local musician Odgerel Sampilnorov who was lamenting the lack of quality pianos in Mangolia. The young musician could only find a Yamaha baby grand on which she gave recitals.

Siberia is not far from Mongolia (relatively speaking) and Russia has a rich history of classical music. So Roberts decides to find a superior piano for the musician in Russia.

However, her quest to find her friend a new piano is soon abondoned, and she instead explores the story of pianos in Russia that were once played by intriguing figures and now lost to history.

Piano, a symbol of European influence, was introduced to the Russians by Catherine II, better known as Catherine the Great (1762-1796). She herself owned a square piano made by Johann Zumpe.

Roberts reveals how the influences of musical greats such as Liszt, Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov enhanced demand for the piano, and how the instrument went on to became a social status symbol.

Pianos in Russia were initially imported from the West, but soon St Petersburg soon became the hub of the Russian piano industry and was home to several piano workshops. It was after “Perestroika” (economic reforms) in the 1980s, that the Russian piano industry lost its way and most factories closed down.

While the author was keen to unravel more stories, unfortunately, most Siberian residents were not keen to share their stories, most of which were about extreme poverty, imprisonment or loneliness. Others, such as the geologist Aleksandr Avdonin – whom Roberts visits to enquire about the piano kept in the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, where the imperial Romanov family was kept and then assassinated by the Bolsheviks in 1918 – simply avoid direct questions.

Robert says “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”.

To sum it up, The Lost Pianos of Siberia is a wonderful book that is both an elegy (sad poem) as well as a detective story. Because Sophy Roberts doesn’t play the piano, the book is not bogged down by music jargon. However, I am unsure if someone with more knowledge about pianos could have further elevated this already wonderful book.