Photo: Penguin Random House
As anyone who's ever owned a piano and moved house will tell you, they are not the easiest instruments to cart around.
Our book giveaway for the month of April is 'The Lost Pianos of Siberia' by travel writer Sophy Roberts.
Roberts takes us deep into remote Siberia in search of pianos - which are common in the area ever since entering Russian culture under the influence of Catherine the Great. How these pianos travelled into this snow-bound wilderness in the first place is astonishing. That they are still capable of making music in far-flung villages is nothing less than a miracle.
A piano that anglophile Catherine the Great commissioned from London in 1774 is just one of the many pianos Roberts attempts to track down. From grand instruments created during the boom years of the 19th century to the humble, Soviet-made uprights that found their way into equally modest homes, this is ultimately a story of how piano music invaded Russia.
To win a copy of 'The Lost Pianos of Siberia', tell us about a piano or other instrument that was/is special to you. Email: Daybreak@rnz.co.nz
Our thanks to Anna Hunt at Wellington's Marsden Books for her inspired choices and generosity.
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