John Williams: Andre Previn was like a brother to me

John Williams: Andre Previn was like a brother to me

Orchestras

norman lebrecht

December 15, 2023

In a CNN interview, the film composer says it was his best friend who introduced him to Anne-Sophie Mutter. ‘He was always a bit better than I was,’ he admits.

Watch here.

Comments

  • CRWang says:

    Andre Previn: Ernest Fleischmann. I love him like a brother, David Greenglass.

  • acoustictourist says:

    Everyone knows and loves JW’s film scores, but I hope his concert music will receive more acclaim in the future.

    • John Borstlap says:

      A sensitive point. His concert music is entirely different, thank God, and serious. It is a bit like early 20C Viennese expressionism, as if from another planet. (‘Ich fühle Duft von anderen Planeten’ by Schönberg comes to mind)

  • Rafael Enrique Irizarry says:

    May no one forget that Maestro Previn was instrumental in the decision to have the London Symphony Orchestra tape the original STAR WARS soundtrack in 1976. The rest, forgive the cliché, is history. A bit later, while in Pittsburgh, Maestro Previn had the courage to program some STAR WARS in the context of an acclaimed series of educational concerts broadcast on public television. With him as a very congenial host, Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony and Stravinsky´s Firebird Suite were also given expert attention. Maestro Previn was a great communicator. What became of that video series? (FULL DISCLOSURE: I treasure the Strauss FOUR LAST SONGS he recorded with the VPO and Arlene Auger for Telarc. Clean, no theatrical banalities, orchestra and voice blend magically. Miss Auger’s intonation is flawless!)

  • Tom Phillips says:

    Previn was a lowlife for cheating on his then-wife Dory with the low-life child abusing tramp Mia Farrow (causing Dory Previn to attempt suicide) and then supporting Farrow in her lies about Woody Allen and her abuse of her Black and Asian adopted children.

  • MOST READ TODAY: