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Mewton-Wood's beginning and end newly remastered
Notes on the recording: Noel Mewton-Wood's recording career began when he was just eighteen years old, initially as accompanist to the child prodigy violinist, Ida Haendel, then aged just twelve. You might expect these recordings to exhibit some indication of nervousness or immaturity but no, they're assured, finely-nuanced performances, and all from first takes. Mewton-Wood went on later that year to commence a number of solo recordings, also for Decca - clearly he'd impressed them sufficiently in the studio with Haendel. A note about the dates here - we initially checked with the British Library, whose database gives a 1940 recording date for the Albéniz, and it was this which determined the running order for this release. However, further research indicates that the recording date was actually a little later, as shown above. It should be noted that we also found another source suggesting 1942 for the same recording, though this seems unlikely. Mewton-Wood's final recording is a scorcher - by this stage the now 30-year-old pianist had made a number of major recordings with Goehr and an assortment of European orchestras operating under a variety of names, but in many cases assembled for recordings such as these from various radio orchestras and the like. Harry Sevenstern, the trumpet soloist on this recording, was a regular in recordings credited to the 'Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra', a recording outfit made up of players from several Dutch radio orchestras. Regular recording venues for this orchestra were primarily the Hersteld Apostolische Kerk, a church building at the Johannes Geradtsweg in Hilversum, or if this was not available, the recording sessions took place in the Tesselschadekerk.
Notes on the 24-bit download: Please see this page for test files and further information regarding this format. Although restoration work is done at a sample rate of 44.1kHz, we have upsampled the final 24-bit master to 48kHz for additional replay compatibility of our FLAC download. Our twenty-four bit FLAC downloads can be replayed in full quality using a standard DVD video player, a DVD writer and an inexpensive piece of PC software - see here for more information about replay from Video DVD discs.
Noel Mewton-Wood biographical notes from Wikipedia, links to more information
Noel Mewton-Wood (November 20, 1922 – December 5, 1953) was an Australian-born concert pianist who achieved some fame during his short life. Born in Melbourne, he studied at the Melbourne Conservatorium until the age of fourteen. After further studies at London's Royal Academy of Music, Mewton-Wood spent time with Artur Schnabel in Italy. In March 1940 he returned to London for his debut performance at Queen's Hall, performing Beethoven's third piano concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham. He later performed in France, Germany, South Africa, Poland, Turkey, and Australia. At the age of thirty-one, Mewton-Wood committed suicide by drinking prussic acid, apparently blaming himself for the death of a friend. The notes written by a friend of Mewton-Wood, John Amis, for the reissue of the Bliss Concerto recording, indicate that Mewton-Wood was gay and was depressed by the recent death of his lover. Mewton-Wood's The Times obituary of December 7, 1953 described his playing style at his debut performance:
In addition to Beethoven, Mewton-Wood's repertoire included:
He also composed chamber music, a piano concerto, ballet music, and music for the 1944 film Tawny Pippit.
Notes from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noel_Mewton-Wood See also notes on Mewton-Wood at:
Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1 notes from Wikipedia
The Concerto in C minor for Piano, Trumpet, and String Orchestra, Op. 35, was completed by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1933 and premiered the same year by the composer at the piano and the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. Despite the title, it is a true piano concerto rather than a double concerto in which the trumpet and piano command equal prominence. The trumpet parts frequently take the form of sardonic interjections, leavening the humor and wit of the piano passage work. The concerto comprises either three or four movements, depending on the interpretation:
The Moderato is sometimes seen as an introductory passage to the Allegro con brio rather than as a separate movement. However, it is usually considered to be the third of four movements, as the moods of the two are very different. Some recordings feature only three movements, with the last marked as Moderato – Allegro con brio. Notes from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No._1_(Shostakovich)
See also biography of Shostakovich: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Shostakovich
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 8 notes from Wikipedia
The Violin Sonata No. 8 in G major of Ludwig van Beethoven, the third of his Opus 30 set, was written between 1801 and 1802, published in May 1803, and dedicated to Czar Alexander I of Russia. It has three movements:
This sonata is characteristic of early/middle Beethoven in its solid sonata structure, just beginning to get adventurous in syncopation, with some extraordinary off beat sforzandi. The work takes approximately 18 minutes to perform. Famous recordings of the sonata include one by Fritz Kreisler with Sergei Rachmaninoff at the piano. Notes from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Sonata_No._8_(Beethoven)
See also biography of Beethoven: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beethoven
Isaac Albéniz notes from Wikipedia
Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz i Pascual (May 29, 1860 – May 18, 1909) was a Spanish pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music. Life Born in Camprodon, Catalonia (Spain), Albéniz was a child prodigy who first performed at the age of four. At age seven he passed the entrance examination for piano at the Paris Conservatoire, but he was refused admission because he took out a ball from his pocket and broke a glass window while playing with it. By the time he had reached 12, he had made many attempts to run away from home. By age fifteen, he had already given concerts worldwide. After a short stay at the Leipzig Conservatory, in 1876 he went to study in Brussels. In 1880, he went to Budapest to study with Franz Liszt, only to find out that Liszt was in Weimar, Germany. In 1883, he met the teacher and composer Felipe Pedrell, who inspired him to write Spanish music such as the Suite Española, Op. 47. The fifth movement of that suite, called Asturias (Leyenda), is probably most famous these days as part of the classical guitar repertoire, even though it was originally composed for piano and only later transcribed to guitar. Many of his other compositions were also transcribed to guitar, notably by Francisco Tárrega — Albéniz once declared that he preferred Tárrega's guitar transcriptions to his original piano works. During the 1890s Albéniz lived in London and Paris and wrote mainly theatrical works, especially a projected trilogy of Arthurian operas commissioned, and supplied with libretti by, the wealthy Francis Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer. The first of these, Merlin (1898-1902) was thought to have been lost, but has recently been reconstructed and successfully performed;[1]. Lancelot was never completed by Albéniz (only the first act is finished, as a vocal and piano score), and Guinevere, the final part, never begun by him.[2]. In 1900 he started to suffer from Bright's disease and returned to writing piano music. Between 1905 and 1909 he composed his most famous work, Iberia (1908), a suite of twelve piano "impressions". His orchestral works include Spanish Rhapsody (1887) and Catalonia (1899). In 1883, the composer married his student Rosina Jordana. They had three children, Blanca (who died in 1886), Laura (a painter), and Alfonso (who played for Real Madrid in the early 1900s before embarking on a career as a diplomat). Albéniz died on 18th May 1909 at age 48 in Cambo-les-Bains and is buried in the Cementiri del Sudoest, Barcelona. Cécilia Sarkozy, the former wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, is the great-granddaughter of Isaac Albéniz.
More notes are available from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albeniz
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