"Farewell, André Previn. He played all the right notes, and usually in the right order. What a life. All those Oscars, awards and achievements and yet most of my generation will always think of him as Andre Preview, conducting Eric Morecambe. He probably wouldn't mind..." - Stephen Fry
Indeed, Mr Previn was a hugely talented genius of the musical world, and a great loss. After he and his Jewish family escaped Nazi Germany for the USA in 1938, the young prodigy landed a job as a composer-conductor for MGM studios, progressed to an orchestral conductor in his own right, moving to the UK to lead first the London Symphony Orchestra then later the Royal Philharmonic. It was principally in the UK that he became widely known through the medium of television, with his own show and as featured artist in numerous documentaries, as well, of course, ast that ground-breaking (and later, it emerged, largely improvised by him) sketch with Morecambe and Wise - as featured here.
In his adopted US of A, he was also fairly well-renowned for his tumultuous personal life. He famously divorced his second wife and musical collaborator Dory Previn while she was in the midst of a nervous breakdown to marry the starlet [and Frank Sinatra's ex] with whom he was having an affair, [the thoroughly unpleasant] Mia Farrow. She then divorced him, taking all the children including their adopted daughter Soon-Yi with her, and took up with Woody Allen, who then ended up leaving her for Soon-Yi... [It's an exhausting plot that even Dynasty wouldn't have tackled.] André's fifth and final marriage was to German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.
Anyhoo, back to the music...
Mr Previn's film scores include A Long Day's Journey into Night, Elmer Gantry and Inside Daisy Clover; he adapted and conducted the music for Gigi, Thoroughly Modern Millie, My Fair Lady, Irma la Douce, Kiss Me Kate, Kismet, Silk Stockings, and Paint Your Wagon; wrote and produced the stage musicals Coco (with Alan Jay Lerner) and The Good Companions (with Johnny Mercer); won awards as conductor of classical music by (among many others) Walton, Vaughan Williams, Rachmaninoff, Barber, Gershwin, Korngold, Prokofiev, Ravel, Bernstein, Fauré, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven, and composed two operas of his own; and he had massive success with his jazz recordings, including collaborations with Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Pass, Benny Carter, Shelly Manne, J.J. Johnson, Barney Kessel, Michael Feinstein and even Kiri Te Kanawa; and he (with Dory) wrote Theme to Valley of the Dolls. Whew!
However, there is one musical marriage-made-in-heaven for which we at Dolores Delargo Towers have a particular passion - the album Duet by André Previn and our Patron Saint of Virginity Miss Doris Day! And this is my favourite track from it...
Close your eyes
Rest your head on my shoulder and sleep
Close your eyes
And I will close mine
Close your eyes
Let's pretend that we're both counting sheep
Close your eyes
This is divine
Music play
Something dreamy for dancing
While were here romancing
It's love's holiday
And love will be our guide
Close your eyes
When you open them, dear
I'll be near by your side
So won't you close your eyes
RIP, Mr André George Previn, KBE (6th April 1929 – 28th February 2019)
May I tell my Previn story?
ReplyDeleteI worked as an illustrator in a department store in Pittsburgh when Andre was conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony and he was married to Farrow. One day I was at my drawing board and a co-worker came in all excited saying that Mia and Andre were out in the lingerie department that one would have to pass through to enter Sales Promotion, where I worked. A mad stampede ran out to see them and I sat back because at that time my thought was "Who cares?".
Someone talked me into going out and looking at them and I walked out like I was legitimately going somewhere and I looked to my right and sure enough there were the Previns and a brood of children looking at robes or some such thing. As soon as I saw them I felt kind of dirty like I was spying on someone's private business and hightailed it ahead to the escalator to get to another floor. As I made my way along I looked around and saw heads of store employees poking up and around clothing sales racks watching the Previns like rabbit heads poking up in a cabbage patch! That's when I learned about the pitfalls of fame!
BrianB
How awful for them... Over here in London, we generally don't balk at seeing famous faces doing their shopping as it's such a regular occurrence. I've seen (among many "star spots") Dame Diana Rigg with a couple of Tesco shopping bags, Brian May and Anita Dobson shopping for lamps in John Lewis, Jane Asher with her grandchildren wandering towards Leicester Square, the late Stephen Gately on his way to the gym, Dame Sian Phillips browsing through CDs in Covent Garden, Cara Delevingne on the Tube, and almost bumped into Sir Michael Caine while he was hailing a taxi... Jx
DeleteA lovely tribute to a great artist.
ReplyDeleteIt's not till one starts reading-up on a recently departed "name" that the full gamut of his achievements becomes clear... Jx
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