Bøger af Sophy Roberts

Sibirien forbindes ofte med eksil, ekstrem kulde og lidelse. Men der er også en anden historie at fortælle. Overalt i denne afsondrede og smukke region står glemte klaverer fra 1800-tallets russiske klaverfeber, opildnet af blandt andre den ungarske ”klaverknuser” Franz Liszt, der turnerede land og rige rundt midt i en intens kulturudveksling mellem Rusland og resten af Europa. En tid, hvor alverdens klaverer blev sendt på de mest mærkværdige rejser gennem tundraen, over Bajkalsøens frosne overflade og ud blandt Kamtjatkas vulkaner. Sibiriens glemte klaverer er en original og fængende rejseberetning gennem to århundreders russisk kulturhistorie – fra Katarina den Stores tid og frem til i dag – om en jagt på et klaver til en talentfuld mongolsk pianist med rødder i det sydlige Sibirien. En jagt, der åbner for et hav af personlige skæbner og fortællinger om landflygtighed, isolation og tragedier, men også om musik, magiske landskaber og håb.

A Sunday Times BOOK OF 2020: 'Extraordinary.''An extraordinary, cadenced journey into music, exile and landscape.' EDMUND DE WAAL_______________Siberia's story is traditionally one of exiles, penal colonies and unmarked graves.

Limited and numbered XXL photo book in a large format. With previously unpublished images from the acclaimed nature and landscape photographer.

This "e;melodious"e; mix of music, history, and travelogue "e;reveals a story inextricably linked to the drama of Russia itself . . . These pages sing like a symphony."e; -The Wall Street JournalSiberia's story is traditionally one of exiles, penal colonies, and unmarked graves. Yet there is another tale to tell. Dotted throughout this remote land are pianos-grand instruments created during the boom years of the nineteenth century, as well as humble Soviet-made uprights that found their way into equally modest homes. They tell the story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under the westernizing influence of Catherine the Great, piano music has run through the country like blood.How these pianos traveled into this snowbound wilderness in the first place is testament to noble acts of fortitude by governors, adventurers, and exiles. Siberian pianos have accomplished extraordinary feats, from the instrument that Maria Volkonsky, wife of an exiled Decembrist revolutionary, used to spread music east of the Urals, to those that brought reprieve to the Soviet Gulag. That these instruments might still exist in such a hostile landscape is remarkable. That they are still capable of making music in far-flung villages is nothing less than a miracle.The Lost Pianos of Siberia follows Roberts on a three-year adventure as she tracks a number of instruments to find one whose history is definitively Siberian. Her journey reveals a desolate land inhabited by wild tigers and deeply shaped by its dark history, yet one that is also profoundly beautiful-and peppered with pianos."e;An elegant and nuanced journey through literature, through history, through music, murder and incarceration and revolution, through snow and ice and remoteness, to discover the human face of Siberia. I loved this book."e; -Paul Theroux