<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><IMG src="cid:BDC9E818-FE6B-4106-A22B-663361CC2CD1@local"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Arial; min-height: 18px; "> </DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Sun 6 Aug 2006</DIV>Piano sell-off the sad coda to Soviet dream<DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">MURDO MACLEOD (<A href="mailto:mmacleod@scotlandonsunday.com?subject=Piano%20sell-off%20the%20sad%20coda%20to%20Soviet%20dream">mmacleod@scotlandonsunday.com</A>)</DIV>STALIN, Khrushchev and Brezhnev all dreamed of a Soviet Union populated by dedicated citizens, working all day to build the Socialist dream and studying the high arts in the evenings.They encouraged piano production in order to boost culture among the people and upright versions of the instrument became the norm in the country's myriad blocks of flats.But now they are being sold in their thousands, many just being given away, as Russians decide they need room in the post-Soviet era for more than music practice.Pianos are being forced out by Ikea furniture and Japanese stereo systems as young professionals turn their back on their parents' dreams of having a classical pianist in the family.The scramble to get rid of the instruments is seen as the latest blow to Russian cultural prestige in the wake of high-profile artists opting to ply their trade abroad and even taking foreign citizenship.Last month, Russian-born opera singer Anna Netrebko received an Austrian passport. She complained that her Russian nationality meant that she had to endure the tiresome and "humiliating" process of applying for a visa for each of her numerous international performances.In addition, a number of the stars of Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet have publicly admitted they may leave their home country because of tough new national service rules which will do away with exemptions for artistic performers.Moscow-born Evgeny Kissin, who featured at the London Proms last week, practised for hours on the piano in his flat as a child. He played so long and so loudly that his neighbours called the police who, on being told Kissin was practising for a concert in the Kremlin, let him alone. Kissin is now an internationally renowned performer.Once one of the Soviet Union's most lauded pianists, Lola Astanova was born in Tashkent in 1982, now the capital of Uzbekistan. She began formal classes at the age of six. At eight she started touring as a concert pianist. But by 2001 she was based in the United States, saying: "I left my motherland because it is better to be a complete failure in democracy, than an icon for millions in despotism."Scottish-based pianist and classical composer, Sally Beamish, said: "There is no substitute for having instruments to hand in the home. I have never had much time for this 'musical talent is in the blood' notion, the key to developing musical talent is giving people the option and the opportunity."The fact that so many international stars are now based outside Russia or the former Soviet Union is seen as a blow to national prestige. Netrebko admitted that she had been called a "traitor" by Russian colleagues over her decision to take Austrian citizenship.A study by the Moscow Times newspaper showed there were 357 pianos in the capital being offered on a popular online sale site last weekend, with 2,000 through the same service for the rest of the country. The study did not include the thousands more estimated to be on offer in the numerous free classified advertising newspapers which are popular throughout the whole of the former Soviet Union, and the small ads notice boards which adorn most streets, even in small villages.Many pianos are being offered for free, with the would-be buyer being expected to come round and collect the instrument, itself no small task in a nation where multi-storey tower blocks with unreliable cargo lifts are common.One unrepentant Muscovite, Darya, said of her decision to get rid of her piano: "It's been in my flat for a long time. How it got there I don't know. I don't need it. I don't play."A piano teacher complained: "This country used to promote knowledge and real culture. Now it is geared to producing stupid people who just care about money. I feel so sad that the only way people will hear our classics is when parts of them appear in pop songs from America."The pianos became a common item of furniture from the 1950s until the fall of communism as dozens of upright piano factories churned them out for the masses. At least one in three households is estimated to have had a piano. While the typical price tag was about two to three months' wages, the pianos were much more affordable than other luxuries, such as cars and consumer electronics. In the early 1980s, when a typical wage was 200 to 250 roubles, a good quality piano could be had for 650 roubles, while a colour TV might cost 800 roubles.In addition to the easily available pianos, tuition was cheap. The typical cost for a child would be the very affordable one rouble 20 kopeks a month. That bought a 40-minute class six days a week for a month.The pianos are being mostly replaced by fashionable new furniture, often from foreign-owned companies. Ikea has five Russian stores, three in the Moscow area alone, and is to open another three this year, including a second in St Petersburg and one near the Ural Mountains.However, those fearing that Russia is on its way to becoming a cultural wasteland can take solace in the nation's TV, which has turned to lavish productions of literary classics instead of cheaply dubbed foreign soap operas.Related topic<UL><LI style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><A href="http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=98">Russia</A> <A href="http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=98">http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=98</A></LI></UL>This article: <A href="http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1138652006">http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1138652006</A>Last updated: 05-Aug-06 00:13 BST</BODY></HTML>