André Previn discography

André George Previn, KBE (/ˈprɛvɪn/; born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019)[1][2] was a German-American pianist, conductor, and composer. Previn won four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings (and one more for his Lifetime Achievement).

Recordings

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Previn's discography contains hundreds of recordings in film, jazz, classical music and contemporary classical music. Because of the huge number of recordings, the following lists are necessarily highly selective. A full discography (including LP/CD record codes) is available in Frédéric Döhl: André Previn. Musikalische Vielseitigkeit und ästhetische Erfahrung, Stuttgart 2012, pp. 295–319.

Film music

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Most of the films which incorporate Previn's music are still available as videos/DVDs and/or as soundtrack records. Some of his soundtracks have been reissued in recent years, including those from Elmer Gantry, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse , Inside Daisy Clover, and Dead Ringer.

Jazz recordings

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Previn made dozens of jazz recordings as both a leader and sideman, primarily during two periods of his career: from 1945 to 1967, and then again from 1989 to 2001, with just a handful of recordings in between and afterward (while he focused his career on conducting/recording classical music, and later on composing contemporary art music). Previn also did several crossover recordings with classical singers like Eileen Farrell, Leontyne Price or Kiri Te Kanawa, too, as well as several Easy-Listening records with piano and orchestra in the 1960s (beginning with Like Young. Secret Songs for Young Lovers, 1959. with David Rose and His Orchestra).

Like Oscar Peterson, whom Previn admired a great deal,[3] and Bill Evans, Previn worked a lot as a trio pianist (usually with bass and drums). Following his performance on Shelly Manne's recording Modern Jazz Performances of Songs from My Fair Lady in 1956, Previn released several albums of jazz interpretations of songs from broadway musicals as well as several solo piano recordings focussed on the songbooks of popular composers (André Previn Plays Songs by Vernon Duke, 1958; André Previn Plays Songs by Harold Arlen, 1960; Ballads. Solo Jazz Standards, 1996; Alone: Ballads for Solo Piano, 2007), the late recording of songs by Harold Arlen with singer Sylvia McNair and bass player David Finck (Come Rain or Shine. The Harold Arlen Songbook, 1996), and his TV shows with Oscar Peterson (1974) – which Marlon Brando simply called "one of the greatest hours I ever saw on television"[4] – and Ella Fitzgerald (1979)[5] respectively.

Jazz critic and historian Ted Gioia wrote in his book about West Coast jazz, the scene to which Previn belonged:

[His] projects varied greatly in terms of quality and jazz content, but at his best Previn could be a persuasive, moving jazz musician. [...] Despite his deep roots in symphonic music, Previn largely steered clear of Third Stream classicism in his jazz work, aiming more at an earthy, hard-swinging piano style at times reminiscent of Horace Silver. Long before his eventual retreat from his jazz work, Previn had become something of a popularizer of jazz rather than a serious practitioner of the music. At his best, however, his music reflected a strong indigenous feel for the jazz idiom.[6]

Dizzy Gillespie stated,

He has the flow, you know, which a lot of guys don't have and won't ever get. Yeah. I heard him play and I knew. A lot of guys, they have the technique, the harmonic sense. They've got the perfect coordination. And, yeah, all that's necessary. But you need something more, you know? Even if you only make an oooooooo, like that, you got to have the flow.[7]

Jazz recordings as leader/co-leader

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Jazz recordings as sideman/group member

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With Buddy Bregman

With Benny Carter

With Michael Feinstein

With Helen Humes

  • Tain't Nobody's Biz-ness if I Do (Contemporary, 1959)
  • Songs I Like to Sing! (Contemporary, 1960)

With Barney Kessel

With Shelly Manne

With The Mitchells: Red Mitchell, Whitey Mitchell and Blue Mitchell

With Lyle Murphy

With Pete Rugolo

Classical music (as conductor or pianist – selection)

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Chamber music / solo piano music

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As in Jazz, Previn, the classical pianist, worked most of the time as a trio pianist (with violin and cello) in classical chamber music. Accordingly, most of his recordings as pianist are in this genre.

Orchestral music / concertos / ballets

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Previn's recording repertoire as a conductor is focused on the standards of classical and romantic music, excepting opera in general, favoring the symphonic music of Hector Berlioz, Johannes Brahms and Richard Strauss and with a special emphasis on violin and piano concertos and ballets. Just a few of Previn's recordings deal with music before Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (both favourites of Previn's programmes) or contemporary avant-garde art music based on atonality, minimalism, serialism, stochastic music etc. Instead, in 20th-century music Previn's repertoire highlights specific composers of late romanticism and modernism like Samuel Barber, Benjamin Britten, George Gershwin, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Maurice Ravel, Dmitri Shostakovich, Richard Strauss, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Harold Shapero and William Walton.

Previn recorded mostly for EMI, Telarc and Deutsche Grammophon.

Contemporary classical music (recordings of Previn's own compositions – selection)

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References

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  1. ^ Moss, Stephen (June 6, 2005). "Baton charged". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2009.
  2. ^ Koseluk, Chris (February 28, 2019). "Andre Previn, Master of Many Musical Genres, Dies at 89". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  3. ^ Frédéric Döhl: André Previn. Musikalische Vielseitigkeit und ästhetische Erfahrung, Stuttgart 2012, p. 127.
  4. ^ As quoted in Frédéric Döhl: André Previn. Musikalische Vielseitigkeit und ästhetische Erfahrung, Stuttgart 2012, p. 16.
  5. ^ "Ella Fitzgerald in concert 1979 last part (6)". YouTube. January 16, 2009. Archived from the original on August 5, 2016. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  6. ^ Ted Gioia, West Coast Jazz. Modern Jazz in California, 1945–1960, Berkeley 1998, p. 278 – as quoted in Frédéric Döhl: André Previn. Musikalische Vielseitigkeit und ästhetische Erfahrung, Stuttgart 2012, p. 140.
  7. ^ Martin Bookspan/Ross Yockey, André Previn. A Biography, London 1981, S. 124 – as quoted in Frédéric Döhl: André Previn. Musikalische Vielseitigkeit und ästhetische Erfahrung, Stuttgart 2012, pp. 139–140.
  8. ^ "Shorty Rogers / André Previn - Collaboration". Discogs. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  9. ^ "Double Play! - André Previn, Russ Freeman | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  10. ^ "Reviews and Ratings of New Jazz Albums". Billboard: 24. 31 March 1958. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  11. ^ LCCN 2016-624189
  12. ^ André Previn Plays Fats Waller at Discogs (list of releases)
  13. ^ "Pal Joey - André Previn | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  14. ^ "Gigi - André Previn & His Pals | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  15. ^ "King Size! - André Previn's Trio Jazz | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  16. ^ "Duet - Doris Day, André Previn | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  17. ^ "Andre Previn and J.J. Johnson Play "Mack the Knife" - J.J. Johnson | User Reviews". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  18. ^ "All Alone - André Previn | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  19. ^ "Different Kind of Blues - Itzhak Perlman, André Previn | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  20. ^ "After Hours - André Previn | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  21. ^ "What Headphones? - André Previn | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  22. ^ "Sylvia McNair, André Previn, David Finck - Sure Thing: The Jerome Kern Songbook". Discogs. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  23. ^ "Play Showboat - André Previn | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  24. ^ "Ballads - André Previn | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  25. ^ "Sylvia McNair, André Previn - Come Rain Or Come Shine: The Harold Arlen Songbook". Discogs. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  26. ^ "Jazz at the Musikverein - André Previn | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  27. ^ "We Got Rhythm: Gershwin Songbook - André Previn | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  28. ^ DuncanDruce (2013-01-09). "We Got It Good...And That Ain't Bad - An Ellington Songbook". www.gramophone.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  29. ^ "Live at the Jazz Standard - David Finck, André Previn | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  30. ^ Siders, Harvey. "Andre Previn: Alone". JazzTimes. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  31. ^ "Swinging Kicks - Buddy Bregman | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  32. ^ "Jazz Giant - Benny Carter | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  33. ^ "Music to Listen to Barney Kessel By - Barney Kessel | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  34. ^ "Modern Jazz Performances from Bizet's Carmen - Barney Kessel | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  35. ^ "Shelly Manne & His Friends, Vol. 1 - Shelly Manne, Shelly Manne & His Men | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  36. ^ "Modern Jazz Performances of Songs from My Fair Lady - Shelly Manne & His Friends, Shelly Manne | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  37. ^ "Shelley Manne and his Friends: Modern Jazz Performances of Songs From Li'l Abner". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  38. ^ "Bells Are Ringing - Shelly Manne | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  39. ^ "Whitey Mitchell Leader Entry". jazzdiscography.com. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  40. ^ "Reeds - Pete Rugolo | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  41. ^ Billington, Michael (2009-01-19). "Theatre review: Every Good Boy Deserves Favour / Olivier, London". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  42. ^ Clements, Andrew (2003-06-27). "A Streetcar Named Desire, Barbican, London". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  43. ^ "Review: André Previn's 'Brief Encounter' premieres in Houston". LA Times Blogs - Culture Monster. 2009-05-03. Retrieved 2019-02-28.