'I don't ever consciously change gears when I play jazz or classical. It's all music.'
So said André Previn, one of the 20th century's most versatile and gifted musicians. There are some iconic recordings featuring him as a conductor, which we'll reveal below: but perhaps Previn's greatest legacy is his almost unique versatility as a musician. He was, after all, one of a very select coterie of artists able to successfully bridge the worlds of classical music, jazz, and film.
André Previn's musical contributions to both the concert hall and the Hollywood soundstage, and his twin capacities as composer and conductor, had a major impact on 20th-century music. Then there was his charm, wit, and ability to communicate complex ideas in a relatable way: these qualities, much like those of Leonard Bernstein, also made André Previn a beloved public figure and a cherished ambassador for music.
Conductor, pianist and composer: Previn was arguably best known in the UK from his time as the charismatic principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). He was both an artist of rare versatility, and one of music's most natural communicators.
Born in Berlin, but a naturalised US citizen from the early 1940s after moving to Los Angeles as a child, Previn displayed his versatility as a musician from a young age – his earliest teachers included the composers Marcel Dupré and Mario Castelnuevo-Tedesco and, later, the conductor Pierre Monteux. With an uncle working at Universal Studios, Previn soon found work arranging and composing for films, and would go on to win four Academy Awards, for Gigi (1959), Porgy and Bess (1960), Irma La Douce (1964) and My Fair Lady (1965).
Previn's conducting career, meanwhile, flourished on both sides of the Atlantic. In England, he was principal conductor of, famously, the LSO from 1968-79 and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from 1985-88, while in the US, he was music director of the Houston Symphony from 1967-69, the Pittsburgh Symphony from 1976-84 and the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1985-89.
In both his LSO and Pittsburgh positions, Previn enjoyed a strong relationship with the TV cameras, not least as the star of André Previn's Music Night on the BBC. He also, perhaps most famously of all, starred on the Morecambe and Wise show where, as the exasperated conductor 'Andrew Preview', he tried to guide Eric Morecambe throught the opening bars of Grieg's Piano Concerto.
André Previn's list of recordings is as long as it is distinguished, and includes acclaimed versions of Gershwin's iconic Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F in which he conducted the orchestra from the piano keyboard.
Though he conducted less frequently in his later years, Previn continued to compose, including, in 1998, his opera A Streetcar Named Desire. He was married five times, the last of which was to the German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, for whom he wrote a concerto in 2003.
André Previn: five best recordings
Throughout his musical career, Previn flourished as a conductor, composer and performer, winning four Academy Awards and eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
From his great accolades, we have reviewed and chosen the five best recordings of Previn's work:
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2
LSO/ André Previn
Warner Classics 0852892
Recorded in 1973 at Kingsway Hall, London, Previn put the original, uncut version of Rachmaninov's epic, melody-packed but then-neglected symphony firmly back on the map.
'The Moscow audience were openly and unabashedly weeping'
Previn had been with the LSO for five years by this point. Conductor and orchestra were playing at their peak, and had already toured the Rachmaninov Second before setting down this landmark recording. The conductor himself has noted that 'one of the most unforgettable events of my musical life was seeing members of the Moscow audience, openly and unabashedly weeping during the performance.'
André Previn conducts Vaughan Williams
Soloists, LSO/André Previn
RCA 88875126952 (download)
Previn recorded this CD with the London Symphony Orchestra in the 1960s, creating one of the greatest recordings of Vaughan Williams's acclaimed cycle of nine symphonies. The interpretations here cast refreshing new light on this great cycle. In particular, the renditions of the angry Fourth Symphony and the serene Fifth Symphony are recordings to treasure: but the set as a whole is a of a very consistently high standard.
- The best recordings of Vaughan Williams's Pastoral Symphony
- Which is your favourite Ralph Vaughan Williams work?
Previn Violin Concerto ‘Anne-Sophie’
Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin), Boston Symphony Orchestra/André Previn
DG E4745002
Previn dedicated this violin concerto to his future wife, Anne-Sophie, and it was first performed in 2002 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The violin part was written for his fiancée and seen as a musical love letter from Previn. This work is a major statement from the composer-conductor’s later years, performed with warmth and firepower by its dedicatee.
Walton Symphony No. 1
LSO/André Previn
Sony G010004009424W (download only)
Packed with emotional power and rhythmic drive, William Walton’s First Symphony is, rightly, one of the most celebrated British symphonies of the 20th century. Walton composed the work during a troubled period in his personal life, and the symphony exudes an atmosphere of struggle and drama.
Previn’s first recording of this symphony remains remarkable for its crackling rhythmic energy and drive.
Gershwin Rhapsody In Blue; Piano Concerto
André Previn (piano), LSO
Warner Classics 2435668912
Previn took the roles of both soloist and conductor for these two famous works by Gershwin, with his beloved London Symphony Orchestra accompanying. The close bond with his orchestra can be heard, alongside a definitive display of Previn’s keyboard skills, deftly catching the music’s lyrical inventiveness and improvisatory streak.
