Noel Mewton-Wood plays Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto

Australian pianist Noel Mewton-Wood’s glorious 1952 account of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 in G Major with the Utrecht Symphony Orchestra conducted by Walter Goehr. Mewton-Wood set down this reading a year before he ended his own life, one of two concerto recordings that he made for the Musical Masterpieces Society; the other was the Schumann, and the bulk of his other concerto recordings were for the Concert Hall label, of which MMS was a sub-label. While he played extensively in concert with a number of legendary conductors - Beecham, Sargent, Szell, Wood - he had not received a contract from any bigger label and so it was in Goehr on the two aforementioned labels that he found a most sympathetic conductor. As with most of Mewton-Wood’s recordings, the combination of dextrous ease and musical maturity belies his young age, particularly notable in this Beethoven work that requires a level of cultivation that many artists his age cannot always be expected to possess. His tonal palette is magnificent, as are his dynamic gradations, rhythmic vitality, poised voicing, and deft articulation - but it is the intelligence governing their use that is truly magical in this superb reading of one of the sublime masterpieces for piano and orchestra. Read more about the artist and explore more recordings with this centenary feature on my website: If you wish to support The Piano Files, please consider membership on Patreon: