Andre Previn has died...

[Study Session]

This would be a great opportunity for the BBC to re-show some of these 'Andre Previn's Music Night' programmes.

BBC4 have another nineteen years of Top of the Pops to burn through first. Three hours' worth tonight.

Or perhaps they could be shown on BBC1, as they were originally. Cue hollow laughter...

[pastoralguy]

BBC4 have another nineteen years of Top of the Pops to burn through first. Three hours' worth tonight.

Or perhaps the could be shown on BBC1, as they were originally. Cue hollow laughter...

Alas, I have to agree with you.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

BBC4 have another nineteen years of Top of the Pops to burn through first. Three hours' worth tonight.
Or perhaps they could be shown on BBC1, as they were originally. Cue hollow laughter...

Do the tapes still exist? Might the Beeb not have wiped them to use the tape for The Russ Abbot Show or some such?

[pastoralguy]

Do the tapes still exist? Might the Beeb not have wiped them to use the tape for The Russ Abbot Show or some such?

I have two separate dvds of what I remember as being my first '...Music Nights'. The first is of Prokofiev's 'Lieutenant Kije' Suite recorded in the Fairfield Halls, Croydon on 24th April, 1977. If I'm really honest, it's not a flawless performance but it did make a HUGE impression on me back then.

On a separate DVD is the second part of the same concert where a stunningly beautiful Martha Argerich plays Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto. (No wonder this 14 year old fell in love with 'classical music!). She made it look childishly simple as if anyone who could be bothered could do it! Alas, neither disc has Previn's spoken Introductions but, perhaps, the BBC may, eventually, realise there is a market for those programmes.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

On a separate DVD is the second part of the same concert where a stunningly beautiful Martha Argerich plays Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto. (No wonder this 14 year old fell in love with 'classical music!). She made it look childishly simple as if anyone who could be bothered could do it! Alas, neither disc has Previn's spoken Introductions but, perhaps, the BBC may, eventually, realise there is a market for those programmes.

Ah, yes - that is available on YouTube, too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgnE25-kvyk

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Oh! And so is the Kijé film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4g3ITh9EUU

(Were those part of the Andre Previn's Music Night series? The ones I remember were filmed in a TV studio, with conductor and orchestra in casual wear.)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

BBC4 have another nineteen years of Top of the Pops to burn through first. Three hours' worth tonight.

Or perhaps they could be shown on BBC1, as they were originally. Cue hollow laughter...

Even if they did find them for broadcast, they’d probably select a few snippets, with Suzy Klein and Lenny Henry stealing most of the limelight.

[Nick Armstrong]

A belated word of great regret at this news. AP was one of the key elements of my early years of becoming interested in music.

Hard to overstate the impact of his Rach 2, Walton 1, RVW 5 and Prokofiev Romeo & Juliet recordings with the LSO when I was in my late teens.

That 1973 recording of Shostakovich 8 had a big impact on me as well.

Much gratitude

[pastoralguy]

A belated word of great regret at this news. AP was one of the key elements of my early years of becoming interested in music.

Hard to overstate the impact of his Rach 2, Walton 1, RVW 5 and Prokofiev Romeo & Juliet recordings with the LSO when I was in my late teens.

That 1973 recording of Shostakovich 8 had a big impact on me as well.

Much gratitude

That reminds me of the Three great Tchaikovsky ballets as well as Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet that I had on Lp in the 1970's. I used to sit in my bedroom in the dark and listen to those discs, dreaming of what it would be like to play the fiddle in the LSO. (And Swan Lake had Ida Haendel as violin soloist!)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

While too young to have been around during his tenure as the LSO's chief conductor, I had the fortune to attend several of their concerts together in more recent times. The last of these in 2015 (and I think probably his very last appearance in London) was the finest performance of Rachmaninov's 2nd symphony I'm ever likely to hear. A memory to cherish.

That was a great performance, which I've been hoping would be released on the LSOLive label ever since (I heard it on my car radio driving back to Yorkshire from a rehearsal in London). No sign of that yet, but it's one of the YouTube videos Pet has just posted elsethread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptkPjwIkBuM

[Alison]

Great work Pet, I will listen later to Rach symphony. At the time the performance seemed touched by greatness.

A Previn speciality: It would be difficult to think of a more appropriate work to mark his last London appearance.

[Barbirollians]

Listening to this You Tube account now - I am sure it is the circumstances but there is a particularly yearning valedictory quality to this account judging by the first movement - whatever it is marvellous .

[ucanseetheend]

Just bought the Rach 2 LSO from 1973 on itunes. Had the CD years ago but misplaced it . Now i have it on my Iphone and can revel in the most beautiful interpretation.. and in analogue stereo sound.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/rachmaninoff-symphony-no-2/id693573859

[Stanfordian]

Just bought the Rach 2 LSO from 1973 on itunes. Had the CD years ago but misplaced it . Now i have it on my Iphone and can revel in the most beautiful interpretation.. and in analogue stereo sound.
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/ra...-2/id693573859

A first class recording. Certainly Previn left a legacy of many excellent recordings.

[bluestateprommer]

There was very perceptive if brief assessment of his impact on British musical life from Petroc on the BBC News Channel earlier in the evening.

This clip of Petroc talking about Previn, mentioned by LMcD, is accessible on Twitter here (he may have gotten the year of Previn's last London appearance off, but modest quibble): https://twitter.com/RobLawrence/stat...21489431392256

Petroc elaborated further in his tribute to Previn at The Grauniad: https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...of-pop-culture