DEATH OF NOEL NEWSON

New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 250, 6 April 1944, Page 7

DEATH OF NOEL NEWSON

One Of Our Most Promising Pianists USICIANS and listeners all over New Zealand heard with deep regret the other day that the Christchurch pianist, Noel Newson, had died. He was 2 years old, and had been very ill for a long time, but appeared bravely at public recitals until last December, giving performances which belied, to the ear, what was obvious to the eye. Noel Newson was born in Wellington, but he learnt his instrument. in Christchurch, from Miss F. Tindall, and then from Ernest Empson. In 1932 he went to the Royal College of Music, London. In 1936, when the Spivakovsky Trio came here, he accompanied them in solo items. On the Spivakovskys’ recommendation, he later toured Australian radio stations. Two years later, the bass, Alexander Kipnis, came to New Zealand with a repertoire which required a high degree of skill from the accompanist, and Noel Newson seemed the obvious choice. Audiences of those days have not forgotten the performances of Schubert’s Erl King. In the same year (1938) Mr. Newson toured with the Essie Ackland Celebrity Concert Party, and then when the Centennial brought a group of distinguished singers from England, he accompanied them at their own request in a tour of the provincial towns. Shortly before the war, the English violinist, Maurice Clare, had arrived and Mr. Newson had accompanied him in his first tour. During the war, he continued to accompany Mr. Clare, and his last public appearance was given in Christchurch last December, when Mr. Clare performed a_ violin sonata by Douglas Lilburn for the first time. Dorothy Helmrich, the Australian lieder singer, was the last visiting artist to have Mr. Newson as accompanisthe toured with her early last year. Two Tributes The Listener invited Maurice Clare, as one of the artists from overseas who worked with Noel Newson, to pay a tribute on their behalf: To those of us who had the opportunity of knowing Noel Newson both as a man and as a pianist, his death at an early age brings a sorrow which will remain through our lives. So often in bodily torment, he gave unsparingly of himself-an _ indefatigable worker. He rose above his physical limitations to pour out more than his frame said he possessed. What pleasure it was to work with him! He was so clearly content at work -the contentment of the craftsman whose work is his life. We salute this dear friend and fellow musician, I am grateful to him and will be alwaysbut I am only one of many who would salute him. The music critic to the Christchurch Press, Frederick Page, wrote of Noel Newson: He was an alert and sensitive artist in this most difficult branch of musicmaking [accompanying]. He was impatient of slovenliness, and pushed his work always to the furthest point that he could reach. . . . It is disappointing that his talent could not have been |

used further in this field and that he should have had to expend too much of his energy in teaching. . .. As a soloist, he had quite remarkable gifts. . . . One remembers a man of singular delicacy of mind and geniality of feeling.