André Previn - Previn: Essentials (2019)

Whether jazz, classical, musical or pop: André Previn mastered a wealth of music genres at the highest level. The four-time Oscar and ten-time Grammy Award winner, who died in New York City on February 28, 2019 at the age of 89, leaves a discourse that is as varied as it is colorful. The spectrum of his acclaimed recordings ranges from soundtracks to jazz albums to easy-listening records and legendary classic releases.

For listeners who want to gain an overview of his rich oeuvre, there is now a delightful e-album of the musical jack-of-all-trades ready for download and stream. Deutsche Grammophon has compiled 25 recording classics of the multi-talented musician in their popular Essentials series. The compilation takes into account the wide-ranging repertoire of André Previn as well as his various fields of activity as a jazz pianist, composer and conductor.

In jazz standards by Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn and George Gershwin, André Previn, accompanied by the accomplished bassist David Finck, sees himself coolly swinging at the piano. The orchestral recordings of the collection evoke a conductor who can bring out longing for romantic music just as intensely as rousing film music or impressionistic soundscapes.
"Previn Essentials" brings together classics by Felix Mendelssohn, Giuseppe Verdi, Frédéric Chopin, Jean Sibelius, Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, Richard Strauss, Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Samuel Barber, all performed by top orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic or the London Symphony Orchestra.
Last but not least, the compilation with compositions by André Previn himself comes up, including the first movement from the violin concerto "Anne-Sophie" balancing between dreamy tails and high expectations. The work was created in 2001. It is considered a musical love letter to Previn's long-time artistic companion and later wife Anne-Sophie Mutter.