Noel Mewton-Wood plays Byrd (BBC broadcast)

An unpublished BBC broadcast of Australian pianist Noel Mewton-Wood playing two works by William Byrd, Sellinger’s Round (LXIV) and The Carmans Whistle. This rare recording, taken from a BBC transcription disc, was shared with me for upload by Nicholas Brown, to whom all thanks. Mewton-Wood was a phenomenal pianist who sadly took his own life just weeks after his 31st birthday in 1953. He recorded a fair number of concerted works and a few solo outings, but naturally any unpublished performance by an artist of his stature is of great interest, and there is to my knowledge no otherwise available recording of him in this repertoire. His playing, as always, is superb: beautiful tone, fluid phrasing, and transparent voicing, all clarifying the beautiful melodic and harmonic content of Byrd’s writing. My centenary tribute to the pianist: If you wish to support The Piano Files, please consider membership at my Patreon page: