Wood

Was this Australian pianist another William Kapell? In both cases these young musicians blazed all too briefly across the musical firmament before dying far too soon (in Mewton-Wood’s case, tragically, by his own hand). Both left us tantalisingly few recordings which show what they had achieved in what should have been the early years of their careers – and which hint at what might have been. This CD is issued to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Mewton-Wood’s death, in December 1953. Unlike Kapell, Noel Mewton-Wood was never really taken up by a major record company (something which he found very frustrating) and the three performances which appear here were all made for the small Concert Hall label. All credit to that label for recording him in less familiar repertoire....

Noel Mewton-Wood’s (1922-53) journey from underestimated virtuoso to present-day icon is cause for both celebration and irony. Glowing testimonials to his ‘genius’ (Sir Malcolm Sargent) from Myra Hess, Beecham, Schnabel, Bliss, Hindemith and Britten were countered by indifference from the major record labels and concert managements, a situation that doubtless contributed to his suicide at the age of 31. Behind an ebullient surface, Mewton-Wood was a romantic idealist, susceptible to depression and mood-swings. So it is hardly surprising to find the dichotomy reflected in performances which alternate a luminous poetic delicacy with a rare energy and bravura. [[i]Bryce Morrison, Gramophone, November 2003]

An intricate, deliberately idiosyncratic record, assembled piece by piece, Boulders perfectly captures Roy Wood's peculiar genius, more so than anything else he recorded. All of his obsessions are here – classical music, psychedelia, pre-Beatles pop, pastoral folk ballads, absurdist humor, studio trickery, and good old-fashioned rock & roll – assembled in a gracefully eccentric fashion. Some listeners may find that eccentricity a little alienating, but it's the core of Wood's music. He wrote tuneful, accessible songs, but indulged his passions and weird ideas, so even the loveliest melodies and catchiest hooks are dressed in colorful, odd arrangements.