In celebration of our 90th anniversary we continue to look back at key pieces of gear that have helped establish and define Abbey Road Studios.

This week it's our Schiedmayer celeste.

The celeste (or celesta) is a classical piano invented in Paris in 1886. The instrument became famous when Tchaikovsky used one on Dance of The Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker. Its distinction as a purely classical instrument began to shift when artists began to incorporate its soft chiming tones on rock and pop records.

This particular Schiedmayer was used on the haunting introduction to Time from Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of The Moon and on Baby It’s You and Goodnight by The Beatles. Perhaps now the most recognisable use of celeste is on the main theme of John Williams’ Harry Potter score, recorded in Studio One in 2001.