Anthony Newman

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

This harpsichordist-organist-Early Musick scholar appears to have flourished as a recording artist in the 1960s-70s but has now fallen off the radar somewhat. Checking, it looks like many or most of his recordings were not issued on CD.

I mention him because I got an LP copy of his Columbia recording of the WTC Book I. I think this came out in the 1970s and never made it to CD. Anyway, the virtuosity on this is stunning, and there's a sense of improvisatory freedom in the playing that I find appealing. I like fast frenetic Bach sometimes, and this is a knockout example.

I've never heard anything else by Newman, and as mentioned, a lot of him is LP only. But this WTC 1 is the most invigorating thing I've heard in quite a while. Any thoughts on him?

[vers la flamme]

I used to have a disc of him playing Handel's keyboard suites but I've culled it. I remember thinking it sounded ultra-fast and soulless, but this was a long time ago and it's entirely possible my opinion could have changed in the interim.

[Mandryka]

Here with Bull's Walsingham Variations

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QfcvlnDBX7k

[Jo498]

I used to have a disc of him playing Handel's keyboard suites but I've culled it. I remember thinking it sounded ultra-fast and soulless, but this was a long time ago and it's entirely possible my opinion could have changed in the interim.

I had the same reaction to the Handel disc and also got rid of a similarly fast Mozart piano sonatas (> K 331) twofer  (Sony). I often tend to like "fast" but I found Newman graceless and charmless.
I kept a disc with Beethoven's concertos 2+4. Not sure I have heard anything else with Newman, maybe some Bach (Brandenburg?) I had from the internet years ago.
I'd guess that a lot of this was really new and exciting in the 70s and 80s but has often been superseded by more recent recordings because Newman seems a bit monomanic.

[Mandryka]

He's the same sort of performer as Glenn Gould and Robert Levin and Reinhardt Goebel and John Butt. If anyone likes any of them, they should try Newman.

[Mandryka]

Has anyone heard this?



or this?

[prémont]

I had the same reaction to the Handel disc and also got rid of a similarly fast Mozart piano sonatas (> K 331) twofer  (Sony). I often tend to like "fast" but I found Newman graceless and charmless.
I kept a disc with Beethoven's concertos 2+4. Not sure I have heard anything else with Newman, maybe some Bach (Brandenburg?) I had from the internet years ago.
I'd guess that a lot of this was really new and exciting in the 70s and 80s but has often been superseded by more recent recordings because Newman seems a bit monomanic.

I have owned a number of Newman's recordings, mostly Bach, but have culled them since long except for his two sets of Brandenburg concertos. Particularly his first set is interesting because of the excellent soloists.

[prémont]

He's the same sort of performer as Glenn Gould and Robert Levin and Reinhardt Goebel and John Butt. If anyone likes any of them, they should try Newman.

This is spot on as to Gould. As to the others it's not that far off.

[Mandryka]

This is spot on as to Gould. As to the others it's not that far off.

I nearly put Ton Koopman in the list but stopped myself.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

He's the same sort of performer as Glenn Gould and Robert Levin and Reinhardt Goebel and John Butt. If anyone likes any of them, they should try Newman.

I like Gould, and I had heard Newman described as "the Glenn Gould of the harpsichord" or words to that effect, so it made sense for me to check him out.

[vers la flamme]

Has anyone heard this?



or this?

Would that second disc you posted happen to contain a composition by Newman? Is it written in a neo-baroque style?

[Mandryka]

Has anyone heard this?

I have a transfer of this now - if any wants it then PM. It seems less dated than his other WTC - less like he's on amphetamines - more mainstream HIP in fact -  occasionally even pleasant and reflective -  and of course, it's always a pleasure to hear a clavichord.

[Mandryka]

I have a transfer of this now - if any wants it then PM. It seems less dated than his other WTC - less like he's on amphetamines - more mainstream HIP in fact -  occasionally even pleasant and reflective -  and of course, it's always a pleasure to hear a clavichord.

Oops, spoke to soon. He's just downed a tab of something and it's not a downer.

[Mandryka]

Would that second disc you posted happen to contain a composition by Newman? Is it written in a neo-baroque style?

Yes. It is often much praised by a certain sort of mature gent who maybe was in his 20s and part of the scene in Haight Ashbury in the 1970s.

[prémont]

I have a transfer of this now - if any wants it then PM. It seems less dated than his other WTC - less like he's on amphetamines - more mainstream HIP in fact -  occasionally even pleasant and reflective -  and of course, it's always a pleasure to hear a clavichord.

I have downloaded Newman's WTC II (from the same source) and will revisit it to see if I change my opinion of it. I already recall finding it strange that he regularily changes instrument between a given prelude and the fugue in the same mode.

A Propos, did you listen to Malcolm Hamilton's WTC?

[Mandryka]

I have downloaded Newman's WTC II (from the same source) and will revisit it to see if I change my opinion of it. I already recall finding it strange that he regularily changes instrument between a given prelude and the fugue in the same mode.

A Propos, did you listen to Malcolm Hamilton's WTC?

Yes I found it on youtube when you mentioned it, and listened but not very attentively, I could see the relation to Landowska.

By the way, have you heard this recital? I may have posted it before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OEV_06qW0I&t=474s&ab_channel=NarolEnterprise

[prémont]

By the way, have you heard this recital? I may have posted it before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OEV_06qW0I&t=474s&ab_channel=NarolEnterprise

Yes, I remember you posting it, but never got around to seeing it, which I will make sure to rectify.