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Press, Volume CX, Issue 32361, 29 July 1970, Page 9

While other instruments : are brought out to best advantage in an orchestra, ensemble, or with piano accompaniment, the piano needs no such aid. Except for the modern pipe organ, it is probably the only instrument today that can perform in an unaccompanied solo recital. As the expression of an idea through music, even the eloquent violin or the exquisite woodwind become only part of the whole. The piano, however, is in itself the whole, a truly complete, self-contained musical instrument. The piano has a relatively short history. In 1707 A.D., just over 250 years ago, a Florentine maker of harpsichords named Bartolomeo Christofori first invented the hammer action principle ; on which today’s piano is based. But it was not until a half a century later that the principle was put to practical application. The piano actually had , two precursors—the clavi- ' chord, and the harpsichord , or cembalo. Variations of both are believed to have 1 existed since the 14th cen- h] tury. Simply explained, the ' clavichord works something ' like a toy piano, with pres- ' sure on one end of a key resulting in the other end striking a string to produce ( a desired sound. In the harpsichord, or cembalo, sound was produced by the j plucking of its strings with ; quill or leather points. (The , clavichord went out of use in the 18th century, but the cembalo still survives today, ' though in a limited way.) The cembalo reached the height of its popularity in 1 the 17th and 18th centuries ' when music flourished in the royal courts of Europe. In short, it became similar 1 to the piano of today. It was an ever-present > instrument, especially in 1 chamber concerts. And its keys were sometimes , coloured all in black to l better offset the delicate i white hands of the court ; ladies as they played. It was . I