André Previn and Toni Morrison
This year, on 28 February, American composer, pianist and conductor André Previn passed away. He was born as Andreas Ludwig Priwin in Berlin in 1929. In 1937, the Jewish family moved to Paris and fled to the United states in 1941. Previn excelled both in jazz and classical music. In addition, he wrote a lot of film music.
Also author Toni Morrison died this year. She was born in 1931 and was one of the greatest 20th-century American authors. In 1993, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. André Previn composed the music to Morrison’s texts twice. In this programme, you will hear both song cycles: Four Songs and Honey and Rue; clicking on the titles will enable you to read the texts.
Playlist
- André Previn: Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Theme. Itzhak Perlman, violin; Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Williams
- André Previn: Four Songs for Soprano, Cello and Piano “Poems by Toni Morrison”. Barbara Bonney, soprano; André Previn, piano; Franz Bartolomey, cello
- André Previn: ‘Look at him go’ and ‘Bowing and scraping’. Itzhak Perlman, violin; André Previn, piano; Jim Hall, guitar; Red Mitchell, bass; Shelly Manne, drums
- André Previn: Honey and Rue. Kathleen Battle, soprano; Orchestra of St. Luke’s conducted by André Previn
