Andre Previn - pianist, conductor, composer

Born in Berlin in 1929, the American Andre Previn seems to have had many different careers. His initial prominence on the musical scene was firstly as a pianist playing both jazz and classical. He also gained significant respect as a conductor interpreting many classics and was principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra for a number of years. An example of his classical interpretations as a conductor is this recording of Shostakovich Symphonies 4 & 5, and he has also recorded the film music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. As yet a third string on his bow, Previn also contributed to stage and film music in the capacity of composer, conductor, music supervisor or music director. As musical director he oversaw the production of a number of leading musicals including Gigi, Porgy and Bess, Kismet, My Fair Lady and Thoroughly Modern Millie.

In the composer role, he scored several films including "Elmer Gantry" and "Kiss me Kate". For the film version of "Paint Your Wagon" he contributed a number of songs (e.g. Gold Fever, A Million Miles away behind the Door, The Gospel of No Name City, Best Things, The First Thing you Know) to the well-known ones by Frederick Loewe (I'm on my Way, I Still See Eliza, Wand'rin' Star, I Talk to the Trees, They Call the Wind Maria, There's a Coach Comin' In, Hand me Down that Can o' Beans) retained from the stage version of the musical. The lyrics for all the songs (Loewe's and Previn's) came from the pen of Loewe's long-time writing partner Alan Jay Lerner.

On the whole his style tends to be fairly light and lyrical, and clearly influenced by his background in both the classical and jazz worlds. In more recent years Previn has been working hard at Tanglewood, famous for its Summer School and Festival. Without a doubt his greatest claim to fame is appearing as "Andy Preview" on the Morecambe and Wise show where he learned the proper way to play the Grieg Piano Concerto before ending up as a bus conductor. Previn is now married to the virtuoso violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and has written a violin concerto for her called "Sophie".

The original soundtrack to the film version of "Paint Your Wagon" can be found at these locations: Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Films by Andre Previn:

• Kiss Me Kate
• Elmer Gantry
• Two for the Seesaw - light romantic lyrical jazz on trumpet and sax
• Irma la Douce - jazzy in style with French accordian sounds
• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
• The Subterraneans - there's a lot of jazz in the score and Previn appears on screen with "The Andre Previn Trio"
• Thoroughly Modern Millie - musical director, music by Elmer Bernstein
• The Elephant Man - conductor for the soundtrack composed by John Morris
• Dead Ringer
• Valley of the dolls - song
• Paint your Wagon - additional music and songs to the classics by Frederick Loewe
• Rollerball - music supervisor for the film featuring Bach's Toccata and Fugue in Dm among other classical works, and some of Previn's own music
• Jesus Christ Superstar - conductor for Andrew Lloyd Webber's music

TV music by Andre Previn:

• Jennie
• Hollywood