https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/André_Previn
Previn lived at least four, maybe five musicians lives. As a fine jazz pianist, a movie score composer, a classical composer, a classical pianist and a conductor, (and a fine narrator and explainer of classical music for television). We only heard him during the last ten years. He was quite stooped over but still actively conducting the London Symphony and we often heard him in our annual sojourns to London. We also have a wonderful set of DVD's he narrated on the major Mozart Piano Concertos which also told the story of Mozart's life - he also performed with other great pianists in the series called "Mozart on Tour." I have the separate DVDs but you can buy the entire 13 hours on one bluray for $40 (not in bluray definition however).
Previn has many recordings he did while the music director of the London Symphony on EMI that are on the TAS Superdisc list, I think all produced and engineered by the two Christophers (Bishop and Parker). Besides all of his EMI and RCA (engineered by Decca) classical recordings on vinyl, I have master tape copies of three of them, his Carmina Burana and Holst Planets and Rachmaninoff Second Symphony. He may be the only artist who has two different recordings of the same piece on the TAS list, the Rachmaninoff Symphony 2 which he recorded with Decca for RCA in the mid '60's and with EMI which he recorded a decade later. Decca engineer Mike Mailes told me that at one recording session with Previn, someone told him that it was Mike's birthday, and Previn immediately sat down at the piano and improvised a seven minute piece on variations on the Happy Birthday song. Decca engineer John Dunkerley was engineer for the Previn Vaughan Williams symphony series for RCA and worked as engineer with Wilkie for the great Radu Lupu Grieg and Schumann Piano Concerto album with Previn conducting the LSO for Decca.
Ashkenazy did a two piano recording for Decca with Previn playing the Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances. During the recording session Ashkenazy asked Previn how long it took him to learn his part. Previn said 'About two weeks". Previn then asked Ashkenazy how long he took to learn his part. Ashkenazy replied "About two years!."
Two of his five marriages were quite notable.
His third marriage was to then young movie star Mia Farrow, who had recently been divorced from Frank Sinatra. John Dunkerley told me that Farrow would come the recording sessions he did for Decca (for RCA) with the LSO and sit in the recording booth with the producer and engineer. John said it was unusual and distracting. Their adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn later became Woody Allen's wife in a major scandal.
After his fourth marriage, Previn married famed violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter in 2002 when he was 72 and she was 39. Previn had written a violin concerto dedicated to her. They continued to collaborate musically after their divorce four years later.
NPR's obit today called him a "Musical Polymath" - an apt description.
Larry
Previn lived at least four, maybe five musicians lives. As a fine jazz pianist, a movie score composer, a classical composer, a classical pianist and a conductor, (and a fine narrator and explainer of classical music for television). We only heard him during the last ten years. He was quite stooped over but still actively conducting the London Symphony and we often heard him in our annual sojourns to London. We also have a wonderful set of DVD's he narrated on the major Mozart Piano Concertos which also told the story of Mozart's life - he also performed with other great pianists in the series called "Mozart on Tour." I have the separate DVDs but you can buy the entire 13 hours on one bluray for $40 (not in bluray definition however).
Previn has many recordings he did while the music director of the London Symphony on EMI that are on the TAS Superdisc list, I think all produced and engineered by the two Christophers (Bishop and Parker). Besides all of his EMI and RCA (engineered by Decca) classical recordings on vinyl, I have master tape copies of three of them, his Carmina Burana and Holst Planets and Rachmaninoff Second Symphony. He may be the only artist who has two different recordings of the same piece on the TAS list, the Rachmaninoff Symphony 2 which he recorded with Decca for RCA in the mid '60's and with EMI which he recorded a decade later. Decca engineer Mike Mailes told me that at one recording session with Previn, someone told him that it was Mike's birthday, and Previn immediately sat down at the piano and improvised a seven minute piece on variations on the Happy Birthday song. Decca engineer John Dunkerley was engineer for the Previn Vaughan Williams symphony series for RCA and worked as engineer with Wilkie for the great Radu Lupu Grieg and Schumann Piano Concerto album with Previn conducting the LSO for Decca.
Ashkenazy did a two piano recording for Decca with Previn playing the Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances. During the recording session Ashkenazy asked Previn how long it took him to learn his part. Previn said 'About two weeks". Previn then asked Ashkenazy how long he took to learn his part. Ashkenazy replied "About two years!."
Two of his five marriages were quite notable.
His third marriage was to then young movie star Mia Farrow, who had recently been divorced from Frank Sinatra. John Dunkerley told me that Farrow would come the recording sessions he did for Decca (for RCA) with the LSO and sit in the recording booth with the producer and engineer. John said it was unusual and distracting. Their adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn later became Woody Allen's wife in a major scandal.
After his fourth marriage, Previn married famed violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter in 2002 when he was 72 and she was 39. Previn had written a violin concerto dedicated to her. They continued to collaborate musically after their divorce four years later.
NPR's obit today called him a "Musical Polymath" - an apt description.
Larry