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RIP Andre Previn

RIP Andre. He gave a lot to music and was often burdened by elitist snobbery because of his studio career. Would have been a fantastic dinner guest with his humour and ability to recall moments from his interesting and varied life.
 
Mr Preview: "They don't make introductions in yards"
Erico Morcecamawitch: "I was introduced to my wife in a yard, and we made sweet music together"
 
Let’s not forget he was also a fantastic pianist too. A superb all round musician. I’ll have to play some of his B
Vaughan-Williams at the weekend.
 
An incredible musician - up there with Leonard Bernstein as one of the the 20th Century's greatest as a performer, composer and all-round communicator - and not just for classical music but Jazz too. Over a huge output of which I haven't heard enough (never yet managed to hear his Shostakovich piano cto 2)..... these 2 recordings for me:



There is also a superb Elgar 2nd with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw on one of their radio box sets. The Violin Concerto he wrote for his then wife Ann Sophie Mutter in the 2000s is worth a listen. Not sure if the recordings of his Piano Concerto (with Ashkenazy ) or Sitar Concerto for Ravi Shankar are still available.
 
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alanbeeb said:
An incredible musician - up there with Leonard Bernstein as one of the the 20th Century's greatest as a performer, composer and all-round communicator - and not just for classical music but Jazz too. Over a huge output of which I haven't heard enough (never yet managed to hear his Shostakovich piano cto 2)..... these 2 recordings for me:



There is also a superb Elgar 2nd with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw on one of their radio box sets. The Violin Concerto he wrote for his then wife Ann Sophie Mutter in the 2000s is worth a listen. Not sure if the recordings of his Piano Concerto (with Ashkenazy ) or Concerto for Rock Group (with Sky) are still available - but could be fun!
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Bernstein was the first name that came into my head when I was thinking of similar musical polymaths.
 
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A remarkable musician who seemed to have real fun with it playing across genres and roles. His jazz stuff is rather good too, I’ve got one of the 60s Contemporary lebel ones, though I’d have to check the title. RIP.
 
Wrote his first film soundtrack at 19, won four Oscars, played with Oscar Peterson, was chief conductor of the LSO. Oh, and had a highly popular TV series in the 70s. Not a bad CV.
 
He was conductor of the orchestra for the film of "My Fair lady" with Rex Harrison as Higgins. If one listens to the music, it is amazingly done. He was then still a young man.
 
A great conductor, pianist, composer and jazz musician. What a shame that ITV news pretty well ignored all that in favour of remembering him for a few minutes with M&W. He was infinitely more than that.

I saw him many times at the Festival Hall bringing music to life. It was his recording of Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 that introduced me to a new sound world.

RIP, a musical great.
 
I always enjoyed the "Andre Previn's Music Night" compilation albums. I think that was the first recording I found of Barber's "Adagio For Strings".

Anyway, Previn's goal of exposing the common man to good music seemed laudable to me.
 
Never did me any harm.
I have a couple of his recordings. Didn't realise he was quite so old, though thinking about it, his frst wife Dory was 86 when she died a few years ago.

Edit: Sorry, didn't see the Obit in 'Classical' as I don't think of him as exclusively classical.
 
His Duet album with Doris Day is excellent. I can't listen to it on headphones though because of the hard left right panning.
 
I suspect history will ultimately judge Previn as a greater musician than Bernstein in whose shadow the zeitgeist would seem to still place him. For me, Bernstein didn't "get" jazz in the way Previn did - Previn really was at home in the genre, whereas Bernstein's forays sound like pastiche to me. I also think Previn was a much more consistent conductor, not prone to the whims and excesses of Lenny, and more at the service of the music. Finally, as a classical composer, I think (from what I have heard myself) Previn will emerge as a very important writer of serious, crafted works. I imagine being dead will help him in this regard.
 
I believe the first classical album I purchased was his Rachmoninoff's 2nd piano cto with Ashkenazy back in the 70s. Always liked his classical and some of his other stuff. Too bad.
 
Nic Robinson said:
I suspect history will ultimately judge Previn as a greater musician than Bernstein in whose shadow the zeitgeist would seem to still place him. For me, Bernstein didn't "get" jazz in the way Previn did - Previn really was at home in the genre, whereas Bernstein's forays sound like pastiche to me. I also think Previn was a much more consistent conductor, not prone to the whims and excesses of Lenny, and more at the service of the music. Finally, as a classical composer, I think (from what I have heard myself) Previn will emerge as a very important writer of serious, crafted works. I imagine being dead will help him in this regard.
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I think you're right. Previn was more a servant of the music, even though he could appear a tad extrovert at times but Bernstein was only a servant to himself. Nonetheless, Bernstein is always worth a listen and at his best, say Mahler 6 with NYPO, spellbinding. Previn seemed to have a way of getting under the skin of a composer and revealing their essence in a way which was less about himself.
 
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