André Previn: A Bridge Between Two Worlds (review)

The title of this DVD (separating the worlds of Jazz and concert music) is somewhat misleading - while Previn began his public career as a teenaged jazz pianist, that part of his musical life has taken a backseat to his activities as a classical performer, composer and conductor since the 1960's. The sheer variety of his work since then is presented here through a series of clips and interviews—although "conversations" is perhaps a better way of describing them. Sequences with Mia Farrow, Renée Fleming, Anne-Sophie Mutter, and Tom Stoppard are enhanced by Previn's participation—he frequently turns the questions on the interviewer. This active curiosity is a crucial part of the personality that is the focus of this documentary. Conversations with his sons Fletcher and Lukas and reflections on the difficulties of maintaining family ties for a touring musician are fascinating, especially considering the obviously warm relations between them.

A distracting part of the production is that about a third of the interviews (with Mutter and a long biographical monologue by Previn) are conducted entirely in German, so for those without a reasonable proficiency, an ability to navigate the language menu and activate the subtitles is key. At the beginning of the film, the languages ping-pong back and forth from scene to scene, which interrupts the flow to a considerable degree.

Perhaps the greatest contribution of this film comes through Previn's observations about his performance philosophies. Scenes of him conducting a rehearsal of the Vienna Philharmonic and archival footage with the London Symphony emphasize his genial demeanor and personal interaction with musicians. His humor is further demonstrated with a clip from his memorable appearance on the Morcambe and Wise show for Thames Television in the 1970's which has found frequent reissue in British comedy retrospectives. Previn's thoughts about the similarities and differences between jazz and classical performance are also enlightening. The sympathetic interplay between players in jazz is explored through his 1974 duet with pianist Oscar Peterson and his more recent partner, bassist David Finck, while the communication between members of a chamber group is clearly in evidence on the bonus tracks of this DVD—two Mozart piano quartets he recorded in Salzburg in 2000. Rehearsal footage of Previn conducting his orchestral piece Diversions, Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra (with Mutter) and his opera Brief Encounter is also included to illustrate his dealings with musicians on a number of creative levels.

This documentary presents Previn as one who has never been content to remain still—even in his eighties he continues to explore new avenues of intellectual endeavor and accept new challenges. This curiosity has been an integral part of his professional development in all fields but which, as several of those interviewed here point out, may have kept him from becoming known as preeminent in any one of them. While this could be seen as regrettable, Previn himself obviously does not think that way, preferring to ally himself to an almost extinct form of intellectual progressivism that emphasizes diversity as the greatest expression of ability.