Previn proves a Gershwin natural
André Previn (pianist/conductor)
London Symphony Orchestra
Warner Classics 2435668912
André Previn’s tenure at the helm of the LSO (1968-79), during which he became something of a celebrity on British TV with his popular series André Previn’s Music Night, resulted in a host of fabulous recordings of the repertoire he’s always done best, including a wide range of seminal works by Russian, American and British composers. ★is charismatic showmanship and witty on-screen raconteuring belied an extraordinary musicianship which is fully reflected in this Gershwin album, recorded in the same year (1971) as his legendary appearance on the Morecambe and Wise Show as hapless conductor ‘Andrew Preview’, who attempts to steer Eric Morecambe through Grieg’s Piano Concerto.
Before devoting himself to a classical conducting career, Previn had worked extensively as a prodigious (and multioscar-winning) ★ollywood orchestrator and composer, and also as a jazz pianist, so was blessed with a skills-set perfectly suited to capturing everything Gershwin was trying to achieve in this piece. Previn first recorded the concerto in 1960 with André Kostelanetz and his orchestra; his later LSO recording was unusual in that, as well as performing the solo part, he directed his orchestra from the keyboard in the manner usually associated with more intimate concertos.
Previn’s playing has an immediacy and spontaneity here which suggests the music has just come hot off the press, but the interpretation is always tightly controlled. Not surprisingly, the jazz elements are vividly characterised, and there’s much sparkling good humour and buoyant energy alongside the more lyrical moments. There are compellingly intense passages achieving a powerful Romantic expansiveness, too.
Anyone familiar with the LSO’S first
Star Wars soundtrack (recorded a few years
The immediacy of Previn’s playing suggests the music has come hot o the press
later at Previn’s instigation) will recognise its signature sonic richness: lushly warm strings, electrifying brass, woodwind lines by turns both bubbly and poignantly expressive, and razor-sharp percussion. The colours and emotions caught in this performance puts one in mind of Beverly Nichols’s evocative description of hearing Gershwin himself play the piece in London in 1926, when the music conjured up images of towering skyscrapers, Broadway chorines relaxing over cocktails, and the ‘mystery of vast forests’ – the overall effect being that of ‘the whole of new America… blossoming into beauty before me.’