André Previn's Curiously Circumscribed Career (10 Best Recordings Preview)

André Previn was such a "star" during his heyday that it's interesting to go back and see just how specialized his repertoire actually was, at least when you consider his best recordings.

[neilbarnes]

British viewers of a certain age will appreciate the delicious irony of you doing a preview of the man we affectionately know as Mr Preview

[DavidJohnson-ofvh]

Thank you for this. When I was a kid, I knew of Previn as a jazz pianist. The first classical record I saw from him was RCA Shotakovic 5/LSO.

[swimmad]

Previn's period with the LSO brings back many happy memories of concerts at the Festival and Fairfield halls. He was also quite an engaging TV presenter, fronting hour long programmes on the symphonies of Vaughan Williams and whether or not orchestra's actually need a conductor. His most memorable appearance though was of course on the Morecambe and Wise Show where he demonstrated what a really good sport he was.

[porcinet]

sometimes I wonder what a Previn Mahler 8 might have been like. I don't own many of his recordings anymore but I still swear by that Messiaen Turangalila which I am glad you mention here! I think what is best about that recording is this: the ondes Martenot playing is beautifully balanced and integrated into the texture, it is to my ear always perfectly in tune and also the orchestral playing is generally very good. It is also a very lush sounding recording and I think "lushness" is a pre-requisite for that piece which needs a touch of "Hollywood" to really work. Out of all the Turangalila recordings I've heard it's one of the very best older ones (Chailly on Decca is still my favorite one overall).

[richardwilliams]

Very informative review once again of Andre Previn and his recording years. Interesting that Previn conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic. I was living in L A in the 70s and recall him having hooked up with Mia Farrow? He was a very underrated conductor indeed

[jgesselberty]

A season ticket holder when Previn was conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony. His programming was always imaginative and interesting.

[jdistler]

Very interesting and perceptive talk, many thanks. Actually, Previn's jazz playing got edgier and more incisive in his later years, but only when he was playing with other people. His solo jazz playing, by contrast, tended to become more "laid back" in later years, as both his EMI and Universal all-ballads CDs prove. He also did a wonderful jazz ballads solo piano disc for RCA in the sixties; I'm not sure if it ever came out on CD.

[leestamm]

I first knew Previn as an excellent jazz pianist in the 60's, then later in the classical world. He was a gifted musician in all his genres.

[HassoBenSoba]

PROKOFIEV 5th with the LSO (1975). The recording that FINALLY..after 20 years of trying..revealed the work's greatness to me. LR

[dmntuba]

I've always had kind of a love/hate relationship with Previn, but always respected his talent and achievement.
Also like Abbado and Muti his best work (glory days) were with LSO..
England.
His LSO recordings (even the not so great ones) will always have a special place in my heart.
And he did make some wonderful ones for Telarc 👍
A former teacher of mine (who was in the LSO horn section) told me that Previn's greatest gift was that he knew how and when to get out of the way and let the orchestra play.

[davidc]

I saw him live in concert in Massachusetts in the late 70s where he conducted and performed on keyboard Mozart's 20th piano concerto, and also a Rachmaninoff symphony.

[jeffboggs]

Previn was a very interesting musician- he was the first classical conductor I knew of who also played jazz too. I remember when I was young having both a vaughan williams recording and the soundtrack of My Fair Lady, both with Previn. There has been many boxes of his classical recordings, but I do wish that Sony would put together a box of all his jazz recordings. Like David said, his jazz was very 'middle of the road' and would not be confused with any of the artists on Blue Note or Verve. But that's not to say that Previn's jazz wasn't good too. I recently went to an estate sale and bought a number of good condition Columbia records of Previn's jazz and they're all really quite good. I find them just nice to listen to. And he did record with many great artists of the day. Maybe one day we'll see one.

[marks]

I read an interview once where AP said there was lots of music he loved but he didn't think he was capable of performing. I remember on the list Bruckner symphonies and Idomeneo. Refreshingly modest when you compare with Barenboim whose goal was clearly to record the whole canon of Western music at least twice - whether he had any aptitude for it at all.
Here is UK there was a wave of admiration for Previn in his latter days

[asheko]

Dear Mr. Hurwitz !

I liked this video a lot, but could you please do videos ( in this series 10 best recordings ) about singers and instrumentalists ?
You once promised to do so ...

[hendriphile]

Previn had the 'fire in the belly" when he did RVW's "Sea Symphony, " right up there with Boult's, although quite different from it.

[mitchellgeorge]

I love when Previn conducted Russian composers. He is one of my go to conductors when listening to Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev ballets. His Rachmaninoff 2nd Symphony recording with the LSO is spectacular

[ahartify]

Previn got into trouble in Britain with the music establishment when he appeared on the Morecambe and Wise comedy show playing himself down as a conductor. He joked that after that he had to get a job as a bus conductor.

[feskoegaffney]

I always liked his Dvorak seventh with the lapo

[ScottBorduin]

The Strauss recordings with Vienna on Telarc seem to be mostly still available on Amazon and Presto both ...

[joewebb]

I actually like his remake of The Planets, the end of Jupiter is one of the best. His remake of Rach2 is probably the only recording where you hear the horns in the final few bars. I adore his Korngold disc of The Sea Hawk etc. Marvellous!