Favourite Andre Previn recordings

[Alison]

I always thought his Ravel collection with the RPO was underrated.

And a fine La Mer with the LSO.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I don't have a massive amount of Previn in my collection. I think his LSO recordings of the Ravel operas (the ones with Chuck Jones cartoons on the covers) are underrated. An early disc was Orff's Carmina Burana. I have his Vaughan Williams set, which is pretty special, as his his Richard Strauss on Telarc (I'd expect his Alpine Symphony to do well on Saturday's BaL, but that's for another thread...), but there's also a couple of gorgeous Strauss discs on DG, one with suites/ orchestral excerpts from the operas and another of concertos.

[Mahlerei]

The Korngold/Barber violin concertos on DG is a favourite of mine. And I have a very soft spot for his Turangalila. I enjoyed his Tchaikovsky ballets on LP but the CD remastering has made them sound horribly strident.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Putting aside the Alpine Symphony (and I put the Previn in the top bracket) I nominate the Tchaikovsky ballets and Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony as among the finest available.

[Thomas Roth]

I love the Ravel disc mentioned by Alison. But also Nielsen 1, Walton 1 (RCA), Vaughan Williams 2, 3 & 5 (RCA). The Britten Sinfonia da requiem and Sea Interludes is one of my favorite discs ever. What happened to his Poulenc album with the organ and harpsichord concertos? Debussy Images!

[Nick Armstrong]

Rachmaninov 2nd Symphony with the LSO... Something magical happens in the slow movement, that clarinet solo...!!!! (am I right in thinking it was Jack Brymer?)

[Petrushka]

Walton 1 (RCA), Rachmaninov 2 (EMI), RVW symphony set, Britten Sinfonia da Requiem, Shostakovich 8 (EMI), Messiaen Turangalila, Walton Belshezzar's Feast, the list just goes on and on.

Thomas Roth: the Poulenc concertos are on the Turangalila set.

Has Previn ever made a bad recording?

[Ferretfancy]

Belshazzar's Feast, and particularly the other item on the disc, the Improvisations on an Impromptu by Britten. The Walton 1 still sounds very good, as do the Shostakovich 4th and 8th Symphonies. There's the marvellous Vaughan Williams Pastoral, and Perlman in the Bartok Violin Concerto, his performance of the Gershwin concerto, and his Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 in that fascinating collaboration with Bernstein. Lots more plus all those already mentioned by others.

[Roehre]

For me:
Britten's Sinfonia and Sea Interludes
RVW Pastoral and 4 (though I think the whole set is a winner)
Rachmaninov 2
Shostakovich 4 and 8
Messiaen Turangalila

[Barbirollians]

Many of the above - and I would add in his central and superb Mendelssohn/Bruch coupling with Perlman with the horrendous 70s shirts - and perhaps most of all his splendid Metamorphosen with the VPO

[makropulos]

Walton 1 (RCA), Rachmaninov 2 (EMI), RVW symphony set, Britten Sinfonia da Requiem, Shostakovich 8 (EMI), Messiaen Turangalila, Walton Belshezzar's Feast, the list just goes on and on.

Has Previn ever made a bad recording?

I'd echo most of those, and add a couple more: the VW Tallis Fantasia and Symphony 5 with the Curtis Institute orchestra (EMI/Angel), Debussy Images, Rachmaninov Bells, and Prokofiev Alexander Nevsky (all EMI). There are others too - the Perlman Bartok 2nd Concerto has already been mentioned.

Petrushka's question is a good one: it's hard to think of many bad Previn records though there are certainly some that are disappointing, but many more that are successful.

[rauschwerk]

Quite a long list, some of which are already mentioned above:

Berlioz: Requiem; Overture, Les Francs-Juges;
Bernstein: Candide Overture (surpasses any version by the composer that I have heard);
Britten: 4 Sea Interludes;
Enescu: Rumanian Rhaposdy No. 1 (up there with Silvestri - has the frisson of a live performance);
Turangalila;
Offenbach: Gaite Parisienne (a joy from start to finish and with just the right degree of vulgarity);
Rachmaninov: Symphony 3 (some of No. 2, beautiful though it is, goes a bit too slow for me);
Ravel: Mother Goose with Pittsburgh SO (what ravishing sounds he conjures up here);
Shostakovich 13: I have never heard a version I like better and it's fabulously well recorded;
RVW Pastoral and London Symphonies (LSO);
Walton: Symphony 1 and Portsmouth Point (LSO - both unsurpassed);
Mozart: Piano Quartets with Musikverein Quartet (Anne-Sophie Mutter was wont to wax lyrical about her then husband's qualities as a Mozart pianist. This recording explains why);
Arlen: Songs with Sylvia McNair (another unalloyed pleasure to listen to);

Numerous concerto recordings in which Previn reveals himself as a top notch accompanist.

[Tevot]

Indeed rauschwerk - Previn has done a lot of fine things hasn't he!? Add to it imho Britten's Spring Symphony. I see that on Amazon there's a 10CD set of Previn's recordings - The LSO Years 1971 to 1980. Might very well be worth the modest outlay ;-)

[amateur51]

Rachmaninov 2nd Symphony with the LSO... Something magical happens in the slow movement, that clarinet solo...!!!! (am I right in thinking it was Jack Brymer?)

I think it was the great Jack Brymer, Caliban. I once attended a 'live' performance of this symophiony by Previn/LSO sitting behind the orchestra in the choir of RFH. During his long solo in the slow movement I noticed that the top of Brymer's bald head went ... mulberry!

Can I put in a word for Previn's albums with Kyung-Wha Chung (Sibelius, Tchaikovsky & Prokofiev violin concertos) and with Ashkenazy (Rachmaninov & Prokofiev concertos) and his Prokofiev ballets.

[pastoralguy]

For me, his Elgar one on Phillips with the RPO is simply my favourite of this much loved work. The horns in the last movt. are outstanding.

The pity is that the companion disc of the second symphony was quite disappointing.