That was Liszt's Liebestraum No. 3 and it was
played by Indrek Laul. I'm Erica Worth and welcome
to this pianist podcast. I'll be speaking with
Indrek Laul, CEO of the Estonia Piano Factory,
whose pianos have recently entered the UK market.
Indrek, it's so good to have you here on the
Pianist Podcast today. Thank you for your invitation.
Oh, you're very welcome. We're here today to
talk about Laul Estonia Pianos, which are now
being distributed in the UK at long last. You're
the CEO, but firstly, let's rewind time a bit.
Before you became involved, in the estonia piano
factory you were actually a concert pianist yes
and how does one become a musician very often
it's the family the surroundings and my mother
is a pianist and was for 30 years a chief accompanist
at the estonian national opera house okay so
i grew up her playing at home and lots of good
music lots of great soloists from the opera and
when she played chopin etudes well i wanted to
play them this sounded so marvelous and then
my father a musician as well a choir conductor
He established the Estonian Boys Choir and their
niche was to perform these big choral orchestral
works, big missas. Okay. And therefore he also
had young men in the back. So it was that kind
of a musical environment where I grew up. And
becoming a pianist was almost natural. Okay,
how lovely, how lovely. And you ended up at the
Juilliard School. How did that happen? That I
wonder myself. But it starts off that my mother
is telling me that she didn't need to push me
to practice. I liked playing the piano. So when
I was there 16, 17 years old, I performed in
concerts all 24 Chopin etudes. Wow. And then
I followed there with several of the least concert
etudes. I found that... continuity what my mother
was playing and how seriously my father approached
his choral music. And I always wanted to have
that grand piano sound, the golden era of piano
sound mixed with a singing element of the choir.
Yes, wonderful, wonderful. So the journey from
there was that I was noticed here in Estonia
and thereafter I continued studying in Serbia.
I went to study with Arvo Valdma in Belgrade.
Okay. And while I was there, I received the first
prize at piano competition in Serbia and thereafter
in Yugoslavia. old Yugoslav republics at the
time. And it was professor Waldman who said that
you should go to Juilliard. So then I applied
for Juilliard and got accepted there. And while
at Juilliard, I more and more started to miss
my Estonian pianos. Yes. And so I met with the
piano factory directors at the time. And from
there, it got more and more involved with the
piano, factory piano making. And I acquired the
company while I was a student at Julia. Oh, my
goodness gracious. That's quite something. And
I mean, at that point, I think your father and
mother became involved with the company as well.
Yes. We have to say that because they are such...
amazing and wonderful parents. And we have very
good relations. And so when I purchased the majority
of the stock, then I invited my father to become
the CEO at the factory. Wonderful. Yeah. And
my mother, it was so natural for her to come
and play the pianos and test them musically.
oh my goodness and so i stayed in new york and
setting up the american market and attending
trade shows and and dealing directly with the
dealers as well as customers and piano technicians
and thereafter when i visited the factory here
once in a while uh There was a girl here who
played the piano and that was Trine. So long
story short, we are married and we have two boys.
Oh, that's fantastic. Yeah. So I can tell that
this musical connection that has always been
there. And today our two boys both play the piano.
Wow. And in fact, for our younger son, Bruno,
it's the first thing when he comes from university
home, the very first thing, he drops the bag
and goes to the piano. Goodness. Yeah. What a
family affair. What a family of musicians. How
is your wife, Trine, involved in the company?
Trine, he's checking the musical quality. of
each instrument and since she likes playing the
piano and making music so whenever she has free
time um she plays at home as well so it's not
something of a a work related or a workload it
is when there is a evening time and off time
I don't know what people do exactly. Maybe some
just watch a movie or so. She would go and play
the piano. Wow. Do you still play? Do you play
the piano? Yes, you do. Yes, I do. Yes. But like
last night when Trine played and she was practicing
the 24th etude of Chopin. And then Bruno came
home from Tartu University. dropped the bag,
went to the piano and played the same piece.
Wow. Because he was practicing that as well.
Great piece. So, yes. And so there I am thinking,
well, this is not exactly a work for us, is it?
Not at all. You're very lucky. It's a labor of
love. But when you took over the company, Obviously,
it was a need of some innovation, you needed
to put something into it. You had a vision. Tell
me about this. Well, the vision, quite frankly,
is hanging here on the wall. I saw a set of pictures
how Eiffel Tower was built. And I bought that
on the streets of New York. Send it to factory,
ask them to frame it. And I said, that's the
vision. So the vision is that we're going to
make these pianos so great that it becomes one
of the items of Estonia in the world. So that
if people think of Paris or France, or they see
Eiffel Tower, It is so connected. And I wanted
that if people see Estonian piano, they think
of the country or they think of the country and
they can think of the piano as well. So that
was the vision that let's make something that
would represent the country as well. Interesting.
You call it Estonia pianos. Is it Estonia or
is it Laul Estonia? What would you say is the
correct term for your brand, your make? The Laul
Estonia is necessary to separate the quality
from the past Soviet era. Oh, okay. Got it. Absolutely.
What is so typical about a Laul? What is so unique?
about a Laos -Estonia piano? What can you expect
from the sound, the touch? As I mentioned that
my upbringing was that my mother played the piano
there and she was a natural player so she could
play operas and sight -read them and so she sometimes
she remembered she went to the herb piano class
at a university, didn't practice at all, put
the music up there and sight read, and the professor
could not understand that it was sight reading.
And because it was natural for her, she had that
skill. I think that pianistic, pianism, where
I grew up, it was something that I continued.
and yet from my father's side the singing element
the singing choir it was a boys choir it's one
of the most beautiful vocal forms is right before
the boys voice would break a very beautiful tone
and when there were solo parts in Mozart, Mises
or so. He trained the boys to sing these as well.
Okay. And that very European, very Estonian,
that singing element is something that I was
looking for in the piano. So very pianistic pianos
that feel natural. with an extra emphasis on
singing. Okay. And the touch, obviously, well,
I guess one can change the touch on a piano,
can't they? Yes, but the touch is also, since
everybody in our family here, we all play the
piano. And as you know, I mean, you're a Juilliard
grad, there is playing and there is playing.
So... when we test the pianos then we we try
to test them as a concert pianist would yeah
yeah would play and then you can feel you don't
need to be told you can feel whether it's right
yes we've been doing it since we're six years
old yes and and we also combine here the renner
actions And we have also Kluge keyboards. So
both these components are provided by Steinle
company to us. So we're grateful for that cooperation.
Yet the singing element of that is the sustain
of the tone. The richness of the tone. Yes. The
effortless singing so that the piano tone would
have such a beautiful curve rather than shooting
up and falling down. Wonderful. I mean, there
have been several innovations. The soundboard,
I believe. done something quite unique with yes
the soundboard we tried to go into the non -diaphragmatic
soundboards which means that computer analysis
modern one shows that the soundboard vibrates
in different sections not in a center like a
mattress but different sections at the same time
so if we did not make it so much thinner towards
going to edges it had more power to project there
was more wood to resonate and we made tests with
that and it was so clearly different that i brought
my bookkeeper because i needed somebody It was
not exactly everyday music. I said, well, here
are two pianos. Now tell me, can you make the
difference here? He said, that's so clear. There's
no question about it. And so then we went to
this different type of soundboard design. As
you know, in the past, in mid 19th century, soundboards
were tested by pouring sand. on the sound book
and when you play that's where the where sand
collects that part is not really resonating very
well because that's stable but that part that
is resonating is pushing the sound away from
there so they in the past already they had non
-diaphragmatic sound boards okay and that also
was a very curious aspect we looked into that
Why did they do so? What was the reason? And
therefore, when we got so much more sound projection
from that, we changed our models toward it. Fantastic.
That's so interesting. And I believe the soundboard
is made from spruce found in the Austrian Alps.
Yes. The quality of the material, like in the
cookie. what's the what is the quality of the
ingredients you put in we try to get the highest
quality we buy at certain times of the year though
it's the very right cut and masters here are
so particular that it's an art form Fantastic.
How many pianos do you produce a year on average?
See, we try to stay somewhere around 100. Okay.
But it depends a lot on the models. A smaller
model we can make maybe perhaps three times faster
than the larger ones because larger ones are
so much trickier. The soundboard itself takes
so much longer on a large piano. Yes. How many
models in total for the listeners? We have five
models. All the way to the concert grand, the
fullest. Okay. And when I took over the factory,
they had two models. Oh, that's good then. So
we added three. Yeah. that never existed here
before. It's amazing. It's not that we reintroduced
something from the past. We actually had to start
from the zero. That's wonderful. What type of
pianist do you think would be attracted to your
pianos? Quite frankly, any type of pianist. It's
not designed to anybody particularly, but what
we have been told is that the singing element
of the piano enables to use less pedal, because
if it's less pedaled, then you also get more
clarity in your performance. And second is that
it's not a difficult piano to control. Great.
Also an important aspect that if you want to
play faster, you want to bring up the volume,
it's coming along fine. And also younger pianists
can handle it. Yeah. Fantastic. I hear that there's
a Laul Estonia piano in Notre Dame. That is an
interesting story that when I saw the cathedral
burning, I was thinking, what can our country
do to contribute? 150 countries were all contributing
something. And many were giving just finances.
which is wonderful, some were giving specialty
wood. And I thought, how about a piano from us?
And it turned out that the pianos got damaged.
And when the instrument was shipped there, we
couldn't even properly interview the choir because
they were practicing, because they have so many
visitors, so many services. It was so much in
the knee that the pan was already fully hot when
the egg was dropped there. Yeah. And there was
no time to ask. They said the piano is wonderful.
It's amazing. Everything is great, but we need
to practice now. She's amazing. Were you at the
opening ceremony? Yes, we were there for the
opening ceremony. Oh, that must have been amazing.
It was an amazing experience I have to say and
also I stayed there longer because when 700 million
euros were spent already in a building I did
want to focus more on how they resolve the lighting
and other details that perhaps take longer to
discover. I've not yet been able to get in myself.
The queues are still enormously long, aren't
they? Yes, they are. And what I think was beautiful
also was the response from Estonia. I gathered
around 13 families who sponsored the piano. And
when I called them up and said, here's an idea,
some of them said, well, don't tell me anything
longer. I'm in. And another lady said, if you
continue talking, I'm starting to cry. That is
just wonderful. And where is it positioned in
the cathedral? It's for the choir to use. Okay.
And at the time of the opening, not everything
was ready. Yes. So it was right given to the
use of the choir. Where it's now, I don't know
yet. Because they said they didn't invite us
back when everything would calm down more. But
as you said, the lines are very long and they
still should have around 1 .2 million visitors
per month. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Well,
it's wonderful that you've got a piano in there.
Are there any other famous venues where we can
find a Laul Estonia piano? We are very proud
that, for example, so many churches in America
have purchased their piano. They do see there
a lot of value and Also an interesting fact,
even here in Estonia, there are today more concerts
in our churches combined than there are in concert
halls. So churches have become very much of a
concert place. That's so interesting. Yeah. Well,
it's so interesting when you talk about the US
because you have and you had. a great presence
in the US, you still do, and obviously in Estonia.
So now why branch out into the UK? Number one
is that the world is a little bit more turbulent.
And yes, we were primarily focused on the American
market and we have an amazing set of dealers
there. We still thought it's better for us to
balance out. And we have brought to America now
thousands and thousands of pianos. Yet I think
it's time to expand and also introduce the quality
and sound to our music lovers, for example, in
the UK. that's fair enough and you've chosen
coach house pianos to showcase that is stock
your pianos um why did you go with coach house
well coach house you work with people and we
like the family and we like the people there
yes yeah okay and they've got a magnificent showroom
as well in london i haven't been to the one in
yes they they have two beautiful showrooms in
Swansea and in London. And again, our business
is a family business. We play each piano, we
care for each instrument, and we saw that that's
the way the pianos are received and presented
at Coach House as well. Fine. And of course,
it's not just Estonia. instruments is you know
an array of the top quality instruments isn't
it yes it is and um they have visited our factory
and they have been um such a such a great family
i do see there also now um that already one piano
has been sold so we have another exciting event
ahead of us and it's coming up on may 7th at
six o 'clock in the evening coach house pianos
you should be there your listeners should be
there and the whole london scene should be there
because it is a introduction official so of estonia
piano at the coach house to the people there
that sounds in addition there is a a a sort of
a nordic tweet with that we are bringing also
a apparently very lovely gin i yet have to try
it's a high -end nordic gin and um represented
by a very talented musician and artist and i
was quite surprised that he has that also as
a side business okay and so and uh There is also
a little surprise. We're going to have beautiful
piano music. And I was asked to play a little
bit of Greek. Nice. So, Erika, I know nobody's
listening. I've been practicing a little bit.
Good. I'm sure you can play very well. Thank
you, yeah. But as Horowitz said, there are pianists...
who say that they don't practice and they practice
and then there are those who kind of say that
they practice and they they they practice are
good and then there are bad pianists yeah in
other words if we perform we have to practice
Of course we do. Well, I really look forward
to being there. I will be there for sure. Listeners,
May the 7th, six o 'clock at Coach House Pianos
on the King's Road in London. It sounds fantastic.
And Indrek, I think that's all I have time for
today. So thank you so much for joining us. It
was a very informative discussion. Thank you
so much. And I'm looking forward to meeting lots
of people. There are lots of music lovers. Yes.
And Trine, my wife, she will be there. And Mal
Kika from Estonia is coming as well. And we might
have Estonian artists there. So it's going to
be exciting. Fabulous. All right, Indrek, I'll
see you there on the 7th. And thanks for joining
us today. Thank you kindly. That was Liszt's
Un sospiro and it was played by Indrek Laul on
a Laul Estonia piano. Pianist podcasts are free
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