As a teen, I had the honor of meeting Mr. Previn when I was developing an interest in composition. He was as kind and sweet as he was gifted and I’ll never forget the impression he left on me. Thank you all for your inspiration through the years.
I loved Andre Previn. I know he did not want to remain in Hollywood as conductor. I wished I had seen him live but his Rachmaninoff Second Symphony with the LSO is for me unsurpassed. Andre graced our television screens in a relaxed manner. I still miss him. Wished I had also seen Carlos Kleiber and the Vienna Phil. Thank you for this.❤️
The man is,in my humble opinion,the most gifted musician of the last 60 years.I have had the pleasure of listening to his music since the late fifties and been lucky enough to watch him conduct in London many times.His Walton 1st is still the best and his improvisational piano playing is truly wonderful.If I go first he certainly wont miss me,but if he goes first it will leave me very saddened.
Thank you André for all your great conducting - I saw you conduct quite often in London. You were wonderful when I saw you conduct the Vienna Philharmonic.
I would love to ask him about his brilliant comedy routine on the Morecambe and Wise show. We all see him as a great musician and conductor but this shows another facet of the man.
Listen to his 2nd (?) Desert Islands Discs appearance which is available on the the BBC archive. He talks about the Morecambe and Wise appearence at some length.
Thanks for including this gem. What an honor to hear him speak. So humble, so genteel. Julie Andrews sang with the London Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Maestro Previn twice, once in 1973 and once in 1989, Royal Albert & Royal Festival Hall respectively. Do those records exist? I heard that BBC broadcast both and it was a triumphant concert.
Sorry, you are gone now probably to a very, very musical place. I enjoyed your piano more than any other things you did. We will miss you, your talent, the depth and creativity. Bye!
Hi luvselgar I'm not sure about the Andre Previn's Music Night tapes. The BBC notoriously destroyed tons of archive TV and radio shows, so possibly not. The famous Previn/Preview Grieg episode does survive, as the BBC used quite a bit of footage in the programme they produced on BBC Four for Previn's 80th birthday in March. Have you searched RU-vid? It seems the most likely place for the shows to be!! thanks for watching. Best wishes, LSO
@luvselgar If you want to see that wonderful performance again, in nice (relatively) high quality, it is actually available on Medici tv. I found it the other day after searching everywhere for it. The bad news is that you need to register to see it in full. Anyhow, I signed up (gave email details etc) but didn't buy a membership. You get three free days of access so I just watched that clip as many times as possible in that time! I wish I could find it elsewhere.
Thank you for this. Previn's down-to-earth self-effacing modesty is in indirect proportion to his mastery of his art - in many forms. I too recall the Music Night series in the 1970's. It coincided with my becoming interested in music. God. it would be such a shame if the tapes had been wiped! Regarding the BBC's penchant for wiping video tape please tell me that the single programme devoted to his rehearsing Walton 1 with the LSO from 1975 hasn't been binned??
THE FELLA WAS BRILL - I WAS OUT IN LIVERPOOL AN PEOPLE WERE TALKING ABOUT THIS GREAT MAN AN I THOUGHT IF THIS HAPPENS HERE THEN THE SAME MUST BE HAPPENING NOT JUST IN THIS GREAT CITY WITH ITS MUSICAL HISTORY BUT THE WHOLE OF THE UK - IN FACT THE ENTIRE PLANET - SADLY MISSED A TRUE GENT AND A GREAT MAN. - CAN I JUST SAY THANK YOU - FROM US ALL.
I thinks its fair to say Previn is very similar to George Gershwin in his ability to make play and write great music in two completely distinct genres.
In fact, I've always wanted to see his movie of "Porgy and Bess" but evidently the Gershwin family wouldn't allow it to be distributed because, it's said, they didn't like it.
I can't imagine composing music for movies...to me it seems to be the lowest form of a composer no offence to anyone just saying....opera or things like that are more my fancy...
