Tony Haywood – Reviewer Profile
Tony cheerfully describes himself as a ‘record nut’ still unable to
stop the urge to visit CD shops or surf the web for bargains or gap
fillers in his collection. The time to actually sit and listen is becoming
increasingly rare, though reviewing for Musicweb means he has to make
such time!
An early love of music (mainly classical) led to piano lessons and
eventually a B.Mus (Hons.) at Huddersfield Polytechnic (now University),
where among his tutors were Arthur Butterworth (orchestration), John
Casken (composition) and, for one valuable year before his retirement,
the much-missed Harold Truscott. Harold’s enthusiasm for a huge range
of sorely neglected composers rubbed off (as did his love of old films)
and it is a constant source of regret that he is not around today to
see many of these composers enjoying the attention they deserve, to
say nothing of the interest being shown in Harold’s own distinctively
crafted scores. Tony now teaches part-time at Huddersfield, specialising
in early 20th Century, as well as taking an active organisational
interest in the now-famous Contemporary Music Festival, and he hopes
to register for a Ph.D, possibly on the music of a major living composer.
His other ‘day job’ is in the musical instrument field, as he runs
a successful piano restoration and tuning business. This brings him
into contact with many fine pianists visiting the area, and recent luminaries
he has worked for include Angela Hewitt, Boris Berezovsky and Paul Lewis.
Balancing the two jobs gets precarious at times (which is where the
lack of quality listening time comes in). But whether it is servicing
a Steinway grand or talking about Bartok to the first years, there is
usually never a dull moment.
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