Noel Mewton-Wood

In the early days of this blog, I often featured the Australian Noel Mewton-Wood, who died very young, leaving a striking legacy of inspired piano playing.

In all Mewton-Wood appeared here seven times, in concertos by Schumann, Chopin, Stravinsky, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.

I've now gone back to the original files and greatly improved the sound, due both to improved tools and many years of experience. The downloads now also include complete scans. 

All the Mewton-Wood records here - and most of the ones he appeared on - were for the Concert Hall Society. Almost all the discs below were issued in the 10-inch format on its budget subsidiary, the Musical Masterpiece Society.

Very little documentation survives as to when these recordings took place, and the orchestras usually were pseudonymous. The Classical Discography dates then from 1951 to 1954. The latter must be the year of issue. Mewton-Wood died in December 1953.

About Mewton-Wood

Mewton-Wood was born in Melbourne in 1922. A prodigy, he moved to England at a young age to study at the Royal Academy of Music. His debut performance at the Queen's Hall was in 1940 - Beethoven's third concerto with the London Philharmonic and Sir Thomas Beecham.

His death was by his own hand at age 31. He blamed himself for his partner's death of a ruptured appendix.

His obituary in The Times of London described the effect of his 1940 debut: "At once his remarkable control and his musicianship were apparent: the ascending scales in octaves, with which the pianist first enters, thundered out with whirlwind power, but he could summon beautiful cantabile tone for the slow movement and the phrasing of the rondo theme was admirably neat for all the rapidity of the tempo." You will find all that captured in the recordings below.

Walter Goehr

Walter Goehr

A word about the hugely skillful conductor Walter Goehr, who is in charge of the varied orchestral forces in all these recordings.

Born in 1903 in Germany, he came to England in the 1930s, soon becoming a house conductor for EMI. He became a free-lancer later on, making many recordings for the Concert Hall Society. Goehr also was a composer - as was Mewton-Wood. Goehr son, Alexander, was also a well-known composer who died last year. Walter Goehr died in 1960.

Schumann - Piano Concerto

The recordings all were made over the period of a few years and the dates are uncertain; the discussions below are not in chronological order.

The Schumann concerto was apparently released in 1954, which suggests but does not prove that it was one of the last ones recorded. (The Pristine release dates it as "circa 1952.")

As with several of these records, the orchestra is billed as the "Netherlands Philharmonic." While there is an orchestra by that name today, it did not form until 1985. The band accompanying Mewton-Wood is thought to be either a Dutch radio orchestra, or an ensemble chosen from players in those orchestras.

This was a good recording and a superb performance by the pianist. Goehr, as always, is highly effective.

LINK to Schumann Concerto

Chopin - Piano Concertos No. 1 and 2

The Chopin piano concertos, both masterfully done, date from about 1952 and 1953 respectively. (Please note that the Pristine release dates the latter as being from 1948.)

The sound of the first concerto was a trifle tubby, which I've tamed. The second concerto has an "empty hall" sound and was somewhat steely sounding, which I have again addressed.

The first concerto is with the "Netherlands Philharmonic." The ensemble in the second concerto is listed as the Radio Zurich Orchestra, which as far as I can tell was a pseudonym. A Classical Discography lists the performers as the Radioorchester Beromünster, but that ensemble did not exist under that name until 1957.

That said, the performances are fine. As others have noted, the orchestras are nothing special, but Goehr has them on alert.

LINK to Chopin Concerto No. 1

LINK to Chopin Concerto No. 2

Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 4

The majestic Beethoven concerto comes from 1952, per the Pristine release. The accompaniments are by the Utrecht Symphony Orchestra, which actually existed, but had changed its name to the "Utrechts Stedelijk [Municipal] Orkest" by the time this record was made. To complete the circle, that ensemble was to become part of the newly formed Netherland Philharmonic in 1985.

Neither the recording nor the orchestra is the equal of the Vienna Philharmonic, who recorded this concerto with Maurizio Pollini and Karl Böhm, recently uploaded here. The pianist is another matter.

LINK to Beethoven Concerto No. 4

Tchaikovsky - Piano Concertos No. 1 and 3, Concert Fantasy

By the time the Tchaikovsky first concerto came out circa 1954, the Musical Masterpiece Society had run out of pseudonyms, so it just listed the band as the "MMS Symphony Orchestra." It seems likely that this is a Dutch ensemble of some complexion.

The third concerto - coupled with the rarely heard Concert Fantasy - comes from Winterthur, Switzerland and 1951. (Pristine says 1952.) Concert Hall Society listed the orchestra as the "Winterthur Symphony," which is likely the Winterthurer Stadtorkester. (It later became the Musikkollegium Winterthur.)

The recording of the first concerto is OK; the third was fog-bound, which I've tried to dispel. The latter was also well off pitch, which has been corrected.

The performances seem fine to me, but I am far from a Tchaikovsky piano concerto aficionado.

LINK to Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1

LINK to Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 3 and Concert Fantasy

Stravinsky - Firebird (1919 Suite), Concerto for Piano and Winds

The Stravinsky disc is the only one where Goehr is given a solo turn, so to speak. He leads a lively reading of the 1919 suite from Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird, a 20th century masterwork.

Mewton-Wood is heard in Stravinsky's neo-classical Concerto for Piano and Winds, from 1923-24 and often described as "spiky." That it is - except the work begins with a dirge-like Largo.

The performance does show Mewton-Wood's range - at least after he joins in to a motoric passage following the Largo. He has this work well in hand - and the orchestra is much better too.

These performances are listed as by the "Netherlands Philharmonic." A Classical Discography claims the concerto is with the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague. It dates the concerto as being from 1952 and The Firebird from 1956.

LINK to Stravinsky works