Mewton-Wood, Part 1

I have wanted to share the music of pianist Noel Mewton-Wood for some time. Mostly forgotten today, he wasn't even that well known in his own lifetime, which ended at age 31 in 1953, and at his own hand.

The Australian pianist did leave behind quite a few excellent records, many of them made for the budget label Music Masterpiece Society.

Mewton-Wood (note that the MMS releases for some reason dispense with his first name) had achieved some success in England and on the Continent by the time of his death. The story goes that he committed suicide because he blamed himself after his partner died of a burst appendix. There was a contemporary newspaper article with the blunt headline "Dying Pianist Dashed Poison Glass at Wall."

But now I am going on about the artist's sensational death, rather than concentrating on his sensational talent, and that is quite unfair to him. Listen to this performance and you will hear what he could accomplish with a pickup orchestra that's a little thin in the strings, a sympathetic conductor (Walter Goehr, who also died young), and very little rehearsal time.

The so-called "Netherlands Philharmonic" was generally composed of players from Dutch radio orchestras. (Note that there is now an actual Netherlands Philharmonic, formed in 1985.) MMS actually could produce a nice product - this is a pretty good recording of a pretty good orchestra on pretty good vinyl, and the piano playing is better than that. The "prestigious" cover with all the scrolls, geegaws, and composer cartoons - maybe not so good.

More to come on Noel Mewton-Wood here.

LINK