A Full Plate of Previn

To celebrate André Previn's 80th birthday, Deutsche Grammophon has released André Previn: A Celebration, a six-CD set chock full of his recordings for the DG and Decca labels. Chosen by Previn, the performances highlight his accomplishments as both a conductor and composer of classical instrumental and vocal works.

Of all the recordings in this collection of music composed in the 20th and 21st centuries, my hands-down favorite is Previn’s marvelous rendition of the orchestral suite from Richard Strauss' opera Der Rosenkavalier. Featuring the Vienna Philharmonic at its lushest, idiomatic best, the 1992 recording’s vivid colors and huge soundstage reap the benefits of DG’s “4D” recording process. The players sound like they’re on top of the world, waltzing with abandon, glowing with romantic warmth, and having a bumptious time in the finale. Complemented by Strauss’ overly domesticated Symphonia Domestica, this is a disc to cherish.

The first CD is devoted to complete recordings of Ravel’s ballet, Ma Mère l’Oye (Mother Goose) and one-act opera, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (The Child and the Magic Spells), with Elizabeth Futral as Le Feu. The third is reserved for Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8 in C Minor. Renée Fleming makes two appearances: Her performance of Previn’s Three Dickinson Songs gives us a taste of Previn the pianist, while the short excerpt from A Streetcar Named Desire reflects Previn’s ongoing career as an opera composer.

How you feel about Previn the composer will determine your reaction to the inclusion of six of his complete or excerpted works. Certainly you will want to hear the live recording of the 2007 world premiere of Previn’s Double Concerto for Violin, Contrabass and Orchestra. Performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with Previn at the helm, its violinist is none other than Previn’s fifth and perhaps final ex-wife, Anne-Sophie Mutter. Roman Patkoló performs on double bass.

In the Double Concerto, there are echoes of Previn’s career as a film composer and the influence of his fellow German-Jewish émigré to Los Angeles, Erich Wolfgang Korngold. (Korngold’s Violin Concerto, performed by Mutter, and his Symphony in F-Sharp, both with the London Symphony Orchestra, fill the fourth CD of the set). In the Double Concerto’s second movement interlude, double bass jazz riffs reflect Previn’s long history as a jazz pianist. After the somewhat touching slow movement, you may hear echoes of Bernstein's West Side Story in the spirited final Allegro.

There’s lots more energetic movement in Previn’s Piano Concerto, recorded 20 years ago with Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. But segue into the generous CD's third offering, Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto with Kyung Wha Chung as soloist and the London Symphony Orchestra, and you may be tempted to guess whose music will still be played 50 years from now.