Andre Previn at the BBC

Ladies and gentlemen, Andre Previn.

DRUMROLL

MUSIC: Piano Concerto in A minor by Edvard Grieg

Eric, say hello to Mr Preview.

Ah! Mr Preview, how are you?

LAUGHTER

A pleasure to be with you, and ready when you are.

-A-one, two, a-one, two, three, four.

-Wait...

I was never a major television personality,

I was just a musician, who happened to be on television.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to another of the London Symphony Orchestra's

television music nights.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

He also conducted symphony orchestras throughout the world,

has won the Oscar four times for his film scores

and is the only conductor I know who dared to work with

Eric Morecambe's version of the Grieg Piano Concerto.

-Grieg!

-LAUGHTER

LAUGHTER

I'm Andre Previn.

I worked with Morecambe and Wise.

Look what happened to me.

LAUGHTER, BELL RINGS

APPLAUSE

THEME TUNE: Blue Boy by Gerry Mulligan

The jazz recordings of Andre Previn.

He's a musician who can't be classified.

He is a jazz pianist of exceptional flair, a concert pianist,

a conductor and a composer and arranger of both classical and jazz.

During your years in Hollywood, you were, I believe,

in despair at the publicity machine and some of its mechanics,

because you seemed to be a consummate publicity-dodger.

Was this something you did consciously?

I don't dodge publicity at all.

I just don't think that there's that much to write about,

in terms of what I do.

I never mind - in point of fact, I always appreciate very much -

when people take the bother to write about what I'm doing professionally.

APPLAUSE

'In order to quit films in Hollywood, you have to move geographically.'

You have to get the hell out of there.

So, I moved to London

and I bought a little house in Surrey.

And I began to work with the LSO.

APPLAUSE

'In those days, I really was so enamoured,'

of getting the LSO as my orchestra,

that I really concentrated on it.

APPLAUSE

'We were very popular and...

'the BBC made us an offer to do a show.'

And we did and the result was, really,

that it was tougher to get a good seat for the LSO

than it was for a West End show.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to another

television concert by the London Symphony Orchestra.

ORCHESTRA PLAYS

'I told the LSO'

not to wear a white tie and tails.

And we came in shirts and sweaters and people liked that.

Will you change that, please? It'll be easier, and it'll be in tempo.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

I knew that I wanted to be comfortable

and I wanted the orchestra to be comfortable.

And, in a way, I thought that it would make

the audience comfortable,

because there weren't that many classical music shows on

and the more we could do to bring it on home,

why, the better. VIOLIN PLAYS

QUIET APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE

I was a great fan of theirs.

Tried not to miss their show.

The head of BBC Two,

he came to me and he said, "Would you ever...

"do anything as outrageous as being on their show?"

And I said, "Like a shot."

'And I was on tour in America and, when I came back,'

they had the sketch in mind.

-Me playing the Grieg Piano Concerto.

-Yes.

-Mm.

-A signed autograph later on, boys.

-LAUGHTER

And I rehearsed it on the way from the airport to the BBC

and we did it. It's that simple.

Grieg by...with him and him.

LAUGHTER

-Grieg!

-LAUGHTER

HE PLAYS DIFFERENT TUNE

LAUGHTER

MUSIC STOPS

LAUGHTER

Something wrong with the violins?

LAUGHTER

No. No, there's nothing wrong with the violins.

-That's only YOUR opinion.

-LAUGHTER

What...? Wh... What, what were you playing just then?

The Grieg Piano Concerto.

HE PLAYS DIFFERENT TUNE

LAUGHTER

But...but...

you're playing...you're playing all the wrong notes.

LAUGHTER

LAUGHTER

LAUGHTER

I'm playing all the right notes.

LAUGHTER

But not necessarily...

in the right order.

LAUGHTER

I'll give you that.

I'll give you that, sunshine.

LAUGHTER

That sounded quite reasonable to me.

LAUGHTER

Are you satisfied, Mr Preview?

LAUGHTER

-No! BOTH SHOUT:

-No?

-What do you mean, no? No, no, no, no!

-I'm not satis...

-I'm not satisfied.

-Why not?

Well, look here, with all due.... Would you mind, just...? One second.

Morecambe and Wise seemed to be pleased by it.

APPLAUSE

HE PLAYS PIANO CONCERTO IN A MINOR

'They had a press call and the photographers asked me to do'

all kinds of things and I said, "Yes, sure."

And then one of them said, "Would you jump up and down on the podium?"

And I said, "No."

And the guy said, "What do you mean, no?"

And I said, "No, I won't do that."

I said, "I'll make a fool of myself any time you want.

"But I won't make a fool of the music."

And Eric was in heaven.

He said, "I love it when you tell the press off."

AUDIENCE TALKS

'This evening, the world premiere of A Concerto For Guitar'

And Orchestra by Andre Previn.

Written for John Williams,

who's going to play it.

APPLAUSE

'Well, I've always composed

'and John Williams is a great guitarist

'and we were friends.'

And he asked me for a concerto and I was happy to write it.

And then he played it and I conducted it.

Writing a concerto for a guitar is a very skilled business,

because the guitar has a relatively small voice

against the weight of a symphony orchestra.

Needless to say, with a composer like Previn,

who has enormous resource and expertise behind him,

he knows exactly how to score

for this rather difficult combination of sounds.

I like working with John.

He's a consummate technician.

That's always a thrill, when somebody is that good.

I've wasn't that familiar with the guitar, as an instrument.

In fact, I made a little mock-up of the guitar out of matchboxes,

so I could tell what strings would do what.

I'm interested in almost any music,

when it's played well.

There are very few things, generically, that I don't like.

I mean, for instance... Well, I can think of something.

I hate Hawaiian music.

Dreadful, whining kind of music.

But...

..it doesn't prevent me from liking the sunshine there.

Those who often say that Rachmaninoff's music is vulgar...

they miss a point -

that it could never be considered

vulgar in Russia.

Now, if you consider Rachmaninoff vulgar,

you've got to consider the whole of Russian culture vulgar.

-Yes.

-Rachmaninoff is a pure expression of the Russian soul.

ORCHESTRA PLAYS

'The third movement'

of the Third Piano Concerto by Rachmaninoff.

I was on television, I liked being on television.

I appreciated being on television.

But I was certainly just the representative of the music.

MUSIC: Symphony No. 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven

"Who needs a conductor?" is a rather dangerous question

for anyone in my profession to ask.

And yet, I am asked that question by people who are extremely erudite

and intelligent and it certainly is a fair question,

because here's what they say.

They say, "Look, a professional orchestra can all read music.

"The music's right there in front of them.

"The music never changes, it's always the same.

"And they've probably played it 100 times anyway.

"So the question is, who needs you to stand there, waving your arms about?"

Let's try a small experiment.

ORCHESTRA CONTINUES TO PLAY

Now, you watch. Any second now,

they'll just go completely to pieces without me.

You watch. Any second. This can't go on, they'll just...

they'll just fall apart.

You know what's going to happen? Just to get even with me,

this orchestra's going to finish this section perfectly, without me.

MUSIC ENDS

LAUGHTER

Thank you.

You're all fired.

LAUGHTER

Well, what a dirty trick.

LAUGHTER

'Yeah, I wrote my own scripts'

and I did my own talk and...

..even if it was not as good as the ones

the professional scriptwriters would have written,

I felt more comfortable doing it.

The actual mechanics of conducting,

I mean the waving one's hands about,

that's what we call stick technique. And that is relatively simple.

And can be taught quite easily.

As a matter of fact, there used to be handbooks, textbooks,

with sensational illustrations.

And we found one, absolutely legitimate, which has,

really, the damnedest pictures in it. And I really love them.

I'm going to show you a couple now.

For instance, in this handbook,

the first one is called "Testing the stick for straightness".

LAUGHTER Yes. Yes.

That's... I've never conducted with a totally bent stick, but that's...

LAUGHTER

All right. Here's one called, "The starting position".

Note the passion and the poise in that.

LAUGHTER Right? Really inspiring.

Fine.

This one I like a lot.

This one is called "Indicating a forte".

LAUGHTER Yes.

It's also like waiting for change from the parking lot.

LAUGHTER Er...

And this one is called "Indicating a piano".

Yes. That's indicating that the piano

is on your foot and you want it moved.

LAUGHTER Well, all right.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to

the Christmas Eve Music Night with the London Symphony Orchestra.

ORCHESTRA PLAYS

To begin, we're going to play a work for which we've had

more requests than any other one -

George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue.

So, if Mr Jack Brymer will start the famous clarinet solo,

we'll play for you. George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue.

Rhapsody in Blue, it's a very good piece and it's very...

one of those very impudent...

and I like playing it, I think it's great fun.

APPLAUSE

MUSIC: Turangalila-Symphonie by Olivier Messiaen

When it comes to Turangalila, that's one of my great favourites.

It's a huge piece. It's over an hour long.

ORCHESTRA PLAYS

And it's got an orchestra of 9,000... HE LAUGHS

But, er...

it's very inventive and very personal.

I was driving, in fact, to Manchester and I turned on Radio 3, and it was

a piece I could not identify, either specifically, or even by style.

ORCHESTRA PLAYS

And I was fascinated by it. And it came to a great, crashing ending.

And I thought, "Right, here comes the announcer." And it just went on.

And it came to a great, crashing ending. And I thought,

"Right, here comes the announcer." And it went on.

And I think I drove to Manchester, and back, actually,

before it finished.

And, by that time, I was totally fascinated

and enamoured with the piece.

CYMBALS CRASH

Not every orchestra likes it.

And certainly not every audience likes it.

And I have been in conservative cities,

where they just wouldn't listen to it.

ORCHESTRA PLAYS

On the other hand, you get points for doing something that

revolutionary and it was really...

It really is an amazing piece. Amazing.

I can never get past my admiration for it.

I like all of his music.

Well, I can't say all of his music - I haven't DONE all of his music.

But I like a lot of it.

APPLAUSE

What was the first time that you heard -

that you recall hearing - a great symphony orchestra?

When I was...six,

my father thought it was high time to make up for that, you know,

regression in my education, so I was taken to the Berlin Philharmonic

and I heard Furtwangler do a Brahms concert.

And, er...

I'm told, mind you, that I was brought home

and actually put to bed with a fever, because I thought it was so exciting.

You were hooked, were you, from that point on?

Oh, yeah. Completely, totally.

What was it about it that you found so compelling?

Well, that, I don't know. That, I don't know.

I wish I could tell you, for the sake of the anecdote,

that, at that moment, I decided to be a conductor. But I didn't.

I just knew that that extraordinary,

glamorous noise that came out of that body of people, up there

on the stage, was something that would interest me all my life long.

# Where are they now?

# Where are they now? #

In one of the classic Walter Mitty fantasies,

the star collapses and the understudy takes over.

The show must go on.

But what happens when it's not the understudy,

but a member of the audience that takes over?

HE SINGS IN LATIN

'Carmina Burana, it's not a piece,'

the contents of which I particularly admire,

but it's very exciting and people love to hear it.

HE SINGS IN LATIN

'We all enjoy daydreaming and, you know,

'sometimes, dreams can come true.'

Well, six years ago, Patrick McCarthy,

a young music student, was enjoying a night out at the Proms.

HE SINGS IN LATIN: # Wafna, wafna! #

ORCHESTRA PLAYS

# Wafna, wafna! #

ORCHESTRA PLAYS

# Quid fecisti sors turpassima? #

ORCHESTRA PLAYS

CHOIR SINGS

MUFFLED THUDDING

'This time, the performance came to a full stop.

'Thomas Allen had collapsed, because of the heat,

'and was carried off the stage.'

'That particular time of Carmina Burana,

'he fell over in a dead faint, went crashing into the cellos.

'And we all thought, my God.

'You know, something horrible has happened.

'And they carted him offstage and they came back'

and they said, "No, he said the heat overcame him."

'The young man emerged from the audience, clutching the score.

'He knew the music well and came to the stage to take over Thomas Allen.

'Andre Previn didn't know who he was,

'he just hoped that Patrick could sing the part.'

And he came out on stage

and we thought it was to make an announcement

and he, as he walked past the podium, he said,

"I know this piece. I'll do it."

And I said, "Fine."

And then he took his place in front of the podium

and I thought, "What if this guy is a nutter?

"You know, what if he can't sing at all?"

But he sang.

It would be a nice story if I told you he was a great singer.

He wasn't. But he did know it

and he knocked the audience out and us, too.

HE SINGS IN LATIN

Well, Patrick went on to complete the performance

and made musical history.

A brave man.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to another programme,

where the guests are friends of mine, with whom I will make some music.

A long time ago, when I was first in America,

I had a very good piece of advice

from a lady who ran a music club

just outside Boston.

And she said to me, "What you have to do, when you plan a programme,

"dear, is start with a bang and end with a flash.

"One must, at some point in the programme, provide fireworks."

And I can't think of any fireworks more thrilling than this one.

# Oh, had I Jubal's lyre

# Or Miriam's tuneful voice

# Oh, had I Jubal's lyre

# Or Miriam's tuneful voice

# To sounds like his I would aspire

# To sounds like his I would aspire

# In songs like hers

# In songs like hers

# Rejoice

# In songs

# Like hers

# Rejoice

# In songs like hers rejoice

# Oh, had I Jubal's lyre

# Or Miriam's tuneful voice

# Oh, had I Jubal's lyre

# Or Miriam's tuneful voice

# To sounds like his I would aspire

# In songs like hers

# In songs like hers

# Rejoice

# In songs like hers rejoice

# In songs like hers rejoice

# My humble strains but faintly show

# How much to heav'n and Thee I owe

# My humble strains do faintly show

# How much to heav'n and Thee I owe

# How much to heav'n

# And Thee

# I owe. #

It was wonderful. She was a really great and serious musician.

Had a wonderful sense of humour,

and she could sing anything she wanted to.

She had a beautiful voice.

You understood all the words she was singing.

She was really one of a kind.

# Through bushes and through briars

# I lately took my way

# All for to hear the small birds sing

# And the lambs to skip and play. #

I was not a television person. I was a person who was on television.

There's a huge difference.

Mozart excelled in so many facets of composition.

Operas, symphonies, chamber music and so on and on,

but it is in the solo concertos and in particular the piano concertos

that he brought an unparalleled range of expressiveness and understanding.

Look at the start of the last movement.

Mozart had bought a pet, a caged bird, for 34 kroner.

It was a starling.

Now, I haven't the remotest idea how much 34 kroner was worth,

but I do know that starling had real talent because it could sing,

and Mozart adored it.

In his diary from May 27, 1784, Mozart wrote down the actual

birdsong that it chirped,

and this is what he wrote.

It's one of the loveliest concertos in the repertory,

Mozart's G Major Piano Concerto, K453.

All through my life there have been well-meaning people

who have said to me, "Why don't you just do one thing?"

"Why don't you just play the piano, just conduct or just compose?"

Well, the answer to that is, it's selfish,

and that is that, as long as people will let me get away with it

and will want to hear me do those things, I will do them,

because I like doing all three.

APPLAUSE

I was never a major television personality,

I was just a musician who happened to be on television.

I liked all my time here in England

and with the LSO - those were very happy days for me.