Stalin's Spirit Tickles the Ivories
The Soviet tyrant died on March 5, 1953, but Uncle Joe's ghost shows up in positive ways in parlors around the world. The "Estonia" piano arose from his whims, and now flourishes as an alternative to the German titans Steinway, Bechstein and Bosendorfer.

When the Baltic nation of Estonia was forced into the USSR in 1940, its leaders were forced to show their "appreciation" by giving the Soviet leader a gift. Their choice: a grand piano made by Ernst Hiis.

A recent article in Forbes magazine recounts how Hiis, a master craftsman trained by Steinway in Germany, was just one of Estonia's many fine piano makers at the time. However, having made the instrument that Stalin liked so much, Hiis was given control over all the piano factories and workshops in Estonia. What emerged was the "Estonia" brand, which monopolized the piano market in the Soviet bloc for decades.

After Hiis' death in 1964, quality and sales declined. After the fall of the East, production fell to fewer than 50 instruments per year.

Estonian pianist Indrek Laul, living in New York, bought the company in 1994 and has reinvested in the quality of its design, materials and craftsmanship. Now the "Estonia" represents a "sweet, old-fashioned, and romantic" sounding instrument that is once again flying out of the shop. (Although in the world of fine piano construction, this means about 380 of the retro instruments per year.)

Their 9-foot grand piano lists at $65,000, about half the price of a comparably-sized Steinway. Parlor sizes run around $20,000 - $30,000.

Explore the Estonia, the piano at the company web site

Explore Estonia, the country

Read the complete Sept. 15, 2003 Forbes magazine article

Read about the Soviet tyrant at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia