Andre Previn: The Warner Edition
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Label: Warner
Cat No: 9029506573
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 95
Release Date: 23rd April 2021
Contents
Works
Adagio in G minor (arr. Remo Giazotto)Come into the garden, Maud
Excelsior!
Adagio for Strings, op.11
Violin Concerto no.2, Sz112 BB117
Symphony no.5 in C minor, op.67
Symphony no.7 in A major, op.92
The Creatures of Prometheus, op.43
Le Carnaval romain (Roman Carnival): overture, op.9 H95
Le Corsaire: Overture, op.21 H101
Les Francs-juges, op.3
Candide
The Arab's Farewell to his Steed
The Death of Nelson
Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), op.45
Gesange (2), op.91 for alto, viola and piano
Lieder (5), op.94
Regenlied (Regentropfen aus den Baumen fallen), WoO23
Romances and Songs (5), op.84
Peter Grimes, op.33
Sinfonia da Requiem, op.20
Spring Symphony, op.44
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, op.34
Violin Concerto no.1 in G minor, op.26
The Banks of Green Willow
Poeme de l'amour et de la mer, op.19
I'll sing thee songs of Araby
Violin Concerto in E minor
Images pour orchestre
La Mer
Nocturnes (3)
Prelude a l'Apres-midi d'un faune
Tom Bowling
The Trumpeter
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (L'Apprenti sorcier)
Au pays ou se fait la guerre
L'Invitation au voyage
La Vie anterieure
Le Manoir de Rosamonde
Phidyle
Cello Concerto in B minor, op.104
Rondo in G minor, op.94 B171
Slavonic Dances: Series II, op.72 B147
Enigma Variations, op.36
Romanian Rhapsodies (2), op.11
Cuban Overture
Piano Concerto in F major
Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture
Rhapsody in Blue (arr. Ferde Grofe)
Rhapsody no.2 'Second Rhapsody' (arr. R McBride)
Ruslan and Lyudmila, op.5
Violin Concerto no.1 in A minor, op.28
The Catch of the Seasons
Symphony no.88 in G major, Hob.1:88
Symphony no.94 in G major, Hob.I:94 'The Surprise'
Symphony no.96 in D major, Hob.I:96 'Miracle'
Symphony no.104 in D major, Hob.I:104 'London'
The Perfect Fool: Ballet Music, op.39
The Planets, op.32
The Wandering Scholar, op.50 H176
Hansel und Gretel
Elite Syncopations
Magnetic Rag
Pine Apple Rag
Solace
Sugar Cane
The Easy Winners
The Entertainer
The Ragtime Dance
The Strenuous Life
Violin Concerto in D major, op.35
The Rio Grande
Annabelle Lee
Piano Concerto no.1 in E flat major, S124
Symphony no.4 in G major
Saved from the Deep
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Incidental Music, op.61
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Overture, op.21
Piano Trio in D minor, op.49
Ruy Blas: Overture, op.95
Symphony no.4 in A major, op.90 'Italian'
The Hebrides Overture 'Fingal's Cave', op.26
Violin Concerto in E minor, op.64
Turangalila Symphony
Basta, vincesti... Ah, non lasciarmi, K486a
Ch'io mi scordi di te ...Non temer, amato bene, K505
Concerto for 2 pianos in E flat major, K365
Exsultate, jubilate, K165
Il re pastore, K208
Piano Concerto no.17 in G major, K453
Piano Concerto no.20 in D minor, K466
Piano Concerto no.24 in C minor, K491
Un moto di gioia, K579
Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio!, K418
Genevieve de Brabant
Concert champetre
Concerto in G minor for organ, strings and timpani
A different kind of Blues
Andre Previn's Music Night (signature tune)
A tune for Heather
Bowing and scraping
Catgut your tongue
Chocolate Apricot
It's about time
It's a breeze
Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill (TV theme music)
Little face
Look at him go
Make up your mind
Night thoughts
Quiet diddling
Rain in my head
The Red Bar
The five of us
Who reads reviews
Alexander Nevsky, op.78
Cinderella, op.87
Lieutenant Kije: Suite, op.60
Peter and the Wolf, op.67
Romeo and Juliet, op.64
Symphony no.1 in D major, op.25 'Classical'
Symphony no.5 in B flat major, op.100
Symphony no.7 in C sharp minor, op.131
Symphonic Dances, op.45
Symphony no.1 in D minor, op.13
Symphony no.2 in E minor, op.27
Symphony no.3 in A minor, op.44
The Bells, op.35
The Isle of the Dead, op.29
Vocalise, op.34 no.14 (orchestra)
Bolero
Daphnis et Chloe: Suite no.2
Daphnis et Chloe
L'Enfant et les sortileges
La Valse
Le Tombeau de Couperin (orchestra)
Miroirs
Piano Trio in A minor
Rapsodie espagnole
Valses nobles et sentimentales (arr. for orchestra)
Concierto de Aranjuez
Fantasia para un gentilhombre
Africa - fantasy for piano and orchestra, op.89
Allegro appassionato, op.70
Piano Concerto no.1 in D major, op.17
Piano Concerto no.2 in G minor, op.22
Piano Concerto no.3 in E flat major, op.29
Piano Concerto no.4 in C minor, op.44
Piano Concerto no.5 in F major, op.103 'Egyptian'
Rhapsodie d'Auvergne for piano and orchestra, op.73
Valse caprice for piano and strings, op.76 'Wedding Cake'
Zigeunerweisen, op.20
Watchman! What of the night?
Piano Trio no.1 in D minor, op.63
Sitar Concerto no.1
Piano Trio no.2 in E minor, op.67
Symphony no.4 in C minor, op.43
Symphony no.5 in D minor, op.47
Symphony no.6 in B minor, op.54
Symphony no.8 in C minor, op.65
Symphony no.10 in E minor, op.93
Symphony no.13 in B flat minor, op.113 'Babi-Yar'
Symphony no.2 in D major, op.43
Violin Concerto in D minor, op.47
Suite im alten Stil, op.10
Kaiserwalzer, op.437
Don Juan, op.20
Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony), op.64
Lieder (4), op.27
Tod und Verklarung (Death and Transfiguration), op.24
Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs), AV150
The Dicky Bird and the Owl
1812 Overture, op.49
Manfred Symphony, op.58
Marche slave, op.31
Piano Concerto no.1 in B flat minor, op.23
Romeo and Juliet: Fantasy Overture in F major, op.64
Swan Lake, op.20
The Nutcracker, op.71
The Sleeping Beauty, op.66
The Snowy-Breasted Pearl
The Wee Cooper o' Fife
Fantasia on 'Greensleeves'
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
The Wasps: Overture
Belshazzar's Feast
Improvisations on an Impromptu of Benjamin Britten
Orb and Sceptre
Portsmouth Point
Scapino: A comedy overture
Symphony no.2
Viola Concerto
Violin Concerto
Artists
Andre Previn (piano, narrator)Thomas Allen (baritone)
Elly Ameling (soprano)
Sheila Armstrong (soprano)
Cecil Aronowitz (viola)
Arleen Auger (soprano)
Janet Baker (mezzo-soprano)
Jules Bastin (bass)
Kathleen Battle (soprano)
William Bennett (flute)
Jane Berbie (mezzo-soprano)
Michel Beroff (piano)
Jeffrey Briant (horn)
John Brown (violin)
Norma Burrowes (soprano)
Michael Chapman (bassoon)
Kyung-Wha Chung (violin)
Jean-Philippe Collard (piano)
David Cripps (horn)
Douglas Cummings (cello)
Terence Emery (bongos)
Gerald English (tenor)
Mia Farrow (narrator)
Linda Finnie (mezzo-soprano)
Barry Griffiths (violin)
Horacio Gutierrez (piano)
Ida Haendel (violin)
Jim Hall (guitar)
Dinah Harris (soprano)
Philippe Huttenlocher (baritone)
Nigel Kennedy (violin, viola)
Yong Uck Kim (violin)
Ralph Kirshbaum (cello)
Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff (narrator)
Michael Langdon (bass)
Philip Langridge (tenor)
Peter Lloyd (flute)
Jeanne Loriod (ondes Martenot)
Radu Lupu (piano)
Benjamin Luxon (baritone)
Shelly Manne (drums)
Red Mitchell (double bass)
Cristina Ortiz (piano)
Itzhak Perlman (violin)
Dimiter Petkov (bass)
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet)
Simon Preston (organ, harpsichord)
Margaret Price (soprano)
Samuel Ramey (baritone)
Anna Reynolds (mezzo-soprano)
Linda Richardson (soprano)
Michael Rippon (bass)
Angel Romero (guitar)
Anneliese Rothenberger (soprano)
Ravi Shankar (sitar)
John Shirley-Quirk (baritone)
Howard Snell (trumpet, cornet)
Jocelyne Taillon (alto)
Robert Tear (tenor)
Jean Temperley (mezzo-soprano)
Paul Tortelier (cello)
Delia Wallis (mezzo-soprano)
Lilian Watson (soprano)
Susan Davenny Wyner (mezzo-soprano)
The Yale Quartet
Ambrosian Chorus
Ambrosian Opera Chorus
Ambrosian Singers
English Opera Group
Finchley Children’s Music Group
London Madrigal Singers
London Philharmonic Choir
London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra Chorus
St Clement Danes Grammar School Boys’ Choir
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
English Chamber Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Wiener Philharmoniker
Conductors
Andre PrevinSteuart Bedford
Adrian Boult
Edward Heath
Works
Adagio in G minor (arr. Remo Giazotto)Come into the garden, Maud
Excelsior!
Adagio for Strings, op.11
Violin Concerto no.2, Sz112 BB117
Symphony no.5 in C minor, op.67
Symphony no.7 in A major, op.92
The Creatures of Prometheus, op.43
Le Carnaval romain (Roman Carnival): overture, op.9 H95
Le Corsaire: Overture, op.21 H101
Les Francs-juges, op.3
Candide
The Arab's Farewell to his Steed
The Death of Nelson
Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), op.45
Gesange (2), op.91 for alto, viola and piano
Lieder (5), op.94
Regenlied (Regentropfen aus den Baumen fallen), WoO23
Romances and Songs (5), op.84
Peter Grimes, op.33
Sinfonia da Requiem, op.20
Spring Symphony, op.44
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, op.34
Violin Concerto no.1 in G minor, op.26
The Banks of Green Willow
Poeme de l'amour et de la mer, op.19
I'll sing thee songs of Araby
Violin Concerto in E minor
Images pour orchestre
La Mer
Nocturnes (3)
Prelude a l'Apres-midi d'un faune
Tom Bowling
The Trumpeter
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (L'Apprenti sorcier)
Au pays ou se fait la guerre
L'Invitation au voyage
La Vie anterieure
Le Manoir de Rosamonde
Phidyle
Cello Concerto in B minor, op.104
Rondo in G minor, op.94 B171
Slavonic Dances: Series II, op.72 B147
Enigma Variations, op.36
Romanian Rhapsodies (2), op.11
Cuban Overture
Piano Concerto in F major
Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture
Rhapsody in Blue (arr. Ferde Grofe)
Rhapsody no.2 'Second Rhapsody' (arr. R McBride)
Ruslan and Lyudmila, op.5
Violin Concerto no.1 in A minor, op.28
The Catch of the Seasons
Symphony no.88 in G major, Hob.1:88
Symphony no.94 in G major, Hob.I:94 'The Surprise'
Symphony no.96 in D major, Hob.I:96 'Miracle'
Symphony no.104 in D major, Hob.I:104 'London'
The Perfect Fool: Ballet Music, op.39
The Planets, op.32
The Wandering Scholar, op.50 H176
Hansel und Gretel
Elite Syncopations
Magnetic Rag
Pine Apple Rag
Solace
Sugar Cane
The Easy Winners
The Entertainer
The Ragtime Dance
The Strenuous Life
Violin Concerto in D major, op.35
The Rio Grande
Annabelle Lee
Piano Concerto no.1 in E flat major, S124
Symphony no.4 in G major
Saved from the Deep
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Incidental Music, op.61
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Overture, op.21
Piano Trio in D minor, op.49
Ruy Blas: Overture, op.95
Symphony no.4 in A major, op.90 'Italian'
The Hebrides Overture 'Fingal's Cave', op.26
Violin Concerto in E minor, op.64
Turangalila Symphony
Basta, vincesti... Ah, non lasciarmi, K486a
Ch'io mi scordi di te ...Non temer, amato bene, K505
Concerto for 2 pianos in E flat major, K365
Exsultate, jubilate, K165
Il re pastore, K208
Piano Concerto no.17 in G major, K453
Piano Concerto no.20 in D minor, K466
Piano Concerto no.24 in C minor, K491
Un moto di gioia, K579
Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio!, K418
Genevieve de Brabant
Concert champetre
Concerto in G minor for organ, strings and timpani
A different kind of Blues
Andre Previn's Music Night (signature tune)
A tune for Heather
Bowing and scraping
Catgut your tongue
Chocolate Apricot
It's about time
It's a breeze
Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill (TV theme music)
Little face
Look at him go
Make up your mind
Night thoughts
Quiet diddling
Rain in my head
The Red Bar
The five of us
Who reads reviews
Alexander Nevsky, op.78
Cinderella, op.87
Lieutenant Kije: Suite, op.60
Peter and the Wolf, op.67
Romeo and Juliet, op.64
Symphony no.1 in D major, op.25 'Classical'
Symphony no.5 in B flat major, op.100
Symphony no.7 in C sharp minor, op.131
Symphonic Dances, op.45
Symphony no.1 in D minor, op.13
Symphony no.2 in E minor, op.27
Symphony no.3 in A minor, op.44
The Bells, op.35
The Isle of the Dead, op.29
Vocalise, op.34 no.14 (orchestra)
Bolero
Daphnis et Chloe: Suite no.2
Daphnis et Chloe
L'Enfant et les sortileges
La Valse
Le Tombeau de Couperin (orchestra)
Miroirs
Piano Trio in A minor
Rapsodie espagnole
Valses nobles et sentimentales (arr. for orchestra)
Concierto de Aranjuez
Fantasia para un gentilhombre
Africa - fantasy for piano and orchestra, op.89
Allegro appassionato, op.70
Piano Concerto no.1 in D major, op.17
Piano Concerto no.2 in G minor, op.22
Piano Concerto no.3 in E flat major, op.29
Piano Concerto no.4 in C minor, op.44
Piano Concerto no.5 in F major, op.103 'Egyptian'
Rhapsodie d'Auvergne for piano and orchestra, op.73
Valse caprice for piano and strings, op.76 'Wedding Cake'
Zigeunerweisen, op.20
Watchman! What of the night?
Piano Trio no.1 in D minor, op.63
Sitar Concerto no.1
Piano Trio no.2 in E minor, op.67
Symphony no.4 in C minor, op.43
Symphony no.5 in D minor, op.47
Symphony no.6 in B minor, op.54
Symphony no.8 in C minor, op.65
Symphony no.10 in E minor, op.93
Symphony no.13 in B flat minor, op.113 'Babi-Yar'
Symphony no.2 in D major, op.43
Violin Concerto in D minor, op.47
Suite im alten Stil, op.10
Kaiserwalzer, op.437
Don Juan, op.20
Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony), op.64
Lieder (4), op.27
Tod und Verklarung (Death and Transfiguration), op.24
Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs), AV150
The Dicky Bird and the Owl
1812 Overture, op.49
Manfred Symphony, op.58
Marche slave, op.31
Piano Concerto no.1 in B flat minor, op.23
Romeo and Juliet: Fantasy Overture in F major, op.64
Swan Lake, op.20
The Nutcracker, op.71
The Sleeping Beauty, op.66
The Snowy-Breasted Pearl
The Wee Cooper o' Fife
Fantasia on 'Greensleeves'
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
The Wasps: Overture
Belshazzar's Feast
Improvisations on an Impromptu of Benjamin Britten
Orb and Sceptre
Portsmouth Point
Scapino: A comedy overture
Symphony no.2
Viola Concerto
Violin Concerto
Artists
Andre Previn (piano, narrator)Thomas Allen (baritone)
Elly Ameling (soprano)
Sheila Armstrong (soprano)
Cecil Aronowitz (viola)
Arleen Auger (soprano)
Janet Baker (mezzo-soprano)
Jules Bastin (bass)
Kathleen Battle (soprano)
William Bennett (flute)
Jane Berbie (mezzo-soprano)
Michel Beroff (piano)
Jeffrey Briant (horn)
John Brown (violin)
Norma Burrowes (soprano)
Michael Chapman (bassoon)
Kyung-Wha Chung (violin)
Jean-Philippe Collard (piano)
David Cripps (horn)
Douglas Cummings (cello)
Terence Emery (bongos)
Gerald English (tenor)
Mia Farrow (narrator)
Linda Finnie (mezzo-soprano)
Barry Griffiths (violin)
Horacio Gutierrez (piano)
Ida Haendel (violin)
Jim Hall (guitar)
Dinah Harris (soprano)
Philippe Huttenlocher (baritone)
Nigel Kennedy (violin, viola)
Yong Uck Kim (violin)
Ralph Kirshbaum (cello)
Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff (narrator)
Michael Langdon (bass)
Philip Langridge (tenor)
Peter Lloyd (flute)
Jeanne Loriod (ondes Martenot)
Radu Lupu (piano)
Benjamin Luxon (baritone)
Shelly Manne (drums)
Red Mitchell (double bass)
Cristina Ortiz (piano)
Itzhak Perlman (violin)
Dimiter Petkov (bass)
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet)
Simon Preston (organ, harpsichord)
Margaret Price (soprano)
Samuel Ramey (baritone)
Anna Reynolds (mezzo-soprano)
Linda Richardson (soprano)
Michael Rippon (bass)
Angel Romero (guitar)
Anneliese Rothenberger (soprano)
Ravi Shankar (sitar)
John Shirley-Quirk (baritone)
Howard Snell (trumpet, cornet)
Jocelyne Taillon (alto)
Robert Tear (tenor)
Jean Temperley (mezzo-soprano)
Paul Tortelier (cello)
Delia Wallis (mezzo-soprano)
Lilian Watson (soprano)
Susan Davenny Wyner (mezzo-soprano)
The Yale Quartet
Ambrosian Chorus
Ambrosian Opera Chorus
Ambrosian Singers
English Opera Group
Finchley Children’s Music Group
London Madrigal Singers
London Philharmonic Choir
London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra Chorus
St Clement Danes Grammar School Boys’ Choir
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
English Chamber Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Wiener Philharmoniker
Conductors
Andre PrevinSteuart Bedford
Adrian Boult
Edward Heath
About
Conductor, pianist, composer and media personality, André Previn excelled in a diversity of musical genres and idioms. A child prodigy in his native Berlin, he moved to the USA in 1939 and made his early career in Hollywood, winning four Academy Awards. His time as Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (1968-1979) established him as a major interpreter of symphonic repertoire, particularly Russian, French and British music – “The very definition of good conducting,” wrote Gramophone of his celebrated LSO version of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker.
The scope of Previn’s relationship with the LSO is duly reflected in this 95-CD set, comprising his entire EMI and Teldec discographies, as is his special rapport with such orchestras as the Pittsburgh Symphony, Chicago Symphony and Wiener Philharmoniker. The collection also showcases his talents as a pianist, in both classical and jazz mode, and offers insights into his character and art with an audio documentary, André Previn – A Memoir.
André Previn was described as an artist “whose music knew no boundaries” by the New York Times when he died in February 2019, aged 89: “He blurred the boundaries between jazz, pop and classical music — and between composing, conducting and performing — in an extraordinarily eclectic, award-filled career.”
Following considerable success as a Hollywood musician in the first stage of his career, Previn spent 11 years as Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (1968-1979). It was over this period that he became established as a major figure in mainstream classical music.
Previn was born Andreas Ludwig Priwin in Berlin in 1929. His family was Jewish and his father, a lawyer, was an accomplished amateur pianist. A child prodigy, Andreas entered the Berlin Conservatory at the age six. In 1938, his family escaped Nazi Germany, moving first to Paris and then to Los Angeles where he studied with the composers Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Ernst Toch and Joseph Achron. He became an American citizen in 1943. In the early 1950s he studied with the great French conductor Pierre Monteux, who preceded him as Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.
Previn made his first contribution to a film score in 1946 – a quasi-improvisatory number for jazz piano. In 1949 he composed his first film score and went on to become a busy and admired figure in Hollywood. He won four Oscars; these were for his work as an arranger and orchestrator on the scores of Gigi (1959), Porgy and Bess (1960), Irma La Douce (1964) and My Fair Lady (1965).
Previn, phenomenally acute in his perception of sonority and balance, credited his time in Hollywood for his exceptional expertise and assurance in the recording studio.
Previn’s activity as a composer later encompassed two musicals (Coco, written with Alan Jay Lerner, and The Good Companions, written with Johnny Mercer) and two operas: A Streetcar Named Desire (premiered in San Francisco in 1998) and Brief Encounter (Houston, 2009). He also collaborated on the musical play Every Good Boy Deserves Favour with playwright and screenwriter Sir Tom Stoppard.
In the 1960s Previn began conducting symphony orchestras around America and in 1967 he was appointed Music Director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. His move to the London Symphony Orchestra the following year (as direct successor to István Kertész) confirmed him as a conductor of international stature.
Over his 11 years as Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, he and his musicians became something of a media phenomenon, notably with their own series on BBC television. Previn became a household name in the UK. This helped to draw full houses for Previn/LSO concerts in London and on tour, and to establish the LSO’s reputation in many eyes as London’s leading orchestra.
Gramophone magazine greeted the now-famous 1972 LSO/Previn recording of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker by saying: “[It] is certainly a performance whose strength comes from its simple eloquence – and there is nothing that can make any music sound better than that … there is a poised and sustained rapture about this performance from end to end that is the very definition of good conducting.”
Previn acquired a particular reputation for his conducting of the late-Romantic and 20th-century repertoires, notably Russian, French and British music. Two of his 10 Grammy Awards were won for LSO recordings: Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast (recorded in 1972) and Rachmaninov’s The Bells (1975). He and the LSO won Gramophone Awards in 1978 for their album of Chausson and Duparc vocal works with Dame Janet Baker and in 1979 for Debussy’s Images and Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. Also in Gramophone, Edward Seckerson has written of Previn’s LSO recordings: “There is surely no better recording of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet on disc, nor for that matter Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie. Iridescent, both of them.”
During his time with the LSO, Previn was married to the actress Mia Farrow, formerly the wife of Frank Sinatra. She narrates his LSO recordings of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. (Previn married a total of five times, his fourth wife being the violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.)
When Claudio Abbado succeeded Previn at the LSO, conductor and orchestra sustained their relationship and in 2016 he was named the LSO’s Conductor Emeritus.
After the LSO, Previn became Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1976 to 1984) and, as successor to Carlo Maria Giulini, of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1985 to 1989). Back in the UK, he was Principal Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from 1985 to 1988. Other orchestras with which he enjoyed an especially close relationship were the Chicago Symphony and Wiener Philharmoniker.
This collection comprises all the recordings that Previn made between 1971 and 1987 for EMI Classics and Warner Classics’ Teldec label.
The first recording Previn made for EMI, in May 1971, was with the LSO and affirms his musical curiosity and the breadth of his interests: it is Ravi Shankar’s Concerto for sitar and orchestra, with Shankar himself as soloist. Shankar, Previn and the LSO had premiered the work earlier in the year.
In addition to the London Symphony Orchestra, Previn conducts the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Wiener Philharmoniker, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra.
Previn also appears as a pianist – as concerto soloist, chamber player, accompanist to singers, and as a member of a jazz group. Notable among these recordings are Mozart’s Piano Concertos nos 17 and 24 with Sir Adrian Boult and the LSO (a CD premiere), and the jazz album It’s A Breeze with violinist Itzhak Perlman, drummer Shelly Manne, guitarist Jim Hall and bass-player Red Mitchell; this album, like others in the set, presents Previn’s own jazz compositions.
Among the composers featuring prominently in the box are:
- France: Berlioz, Chausson, Debussy, Duparc, Messiaen, Poulenc, Ravel, Saint-Saëns
- Germany & Austria: Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch, Goldmark, Haydn, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Orff, Strauss
- Russia: Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky
- Central, Eastern, Northern & Southern Europe: Bartók, Dvořák, Rodrigo, Sibelius
- Britain & America: Britten, Elgar, Gershwin, Joplin, Walton.
Itzhak Perlman is the soloist featuring most prominently in the box – on eight of the CDs. Among the other soloists are:
- Instrumentalists: Michel Béroff, Kyung-Wha Chung, Jean-Philippe Collard, Nigel Kennedy, Jeanne Loriod, Radu Lupu, Simon Preston, Angel Romero, Ravi Shankar, Paul Tortelier.
- Singers: Sir Thomas Allen, Elly Ameling, Dame Janet Baker, Kathleen Battle, Margaret Price, Samuel Ramey, Anneliese Rothenberger.
The CD premieres in the set are:
- CD 2: An American in Paris/rehearsal (Track 6)
- CD 4: LSO Gala Concert
- CD 21: Mozart Concerto nos. 17 & 24
- CD 38: André Previn’s Music Night
- CD 43: Haydn Symphonies nos. 88 & 96
- CD 44: Tchaikovsky/Liszt Piano Concertos no.1 with Horacio Gutiérrez
- CD 49: André Previn’s Music Night II
- CD 64: Mendelssohn Symphony no.4 + Overtures
The set includes a bonus CD carrying the documentary André Previn – A Memoir. Produced and narrated by Jon Tolansky, it includes interviews with Previn himself, members of the London Symphony Orchestra and the playwright and screenwriter Sir Tom Stoppard.
When Gramophone gave Previn its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008, the soprano Barbara Bonney’s personal tribute to him included these words: “He is one of the wittiest and most charming people on the planet. Right away there was a chamber music-style appreciation in our communication. We knew we could do wonderful work together. He is a truly international, multi-talented guy. The way he plays piano is astonishing beyond belief. He is a magnificent conductor. A great composer.”
Among his other awards was an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.
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