Before Michael Parkinson began his lengthy reign as the undisputed king of television chat show hosts, a young pretender to the throne by the name of Simon Dee was at the height of his fame. One of the guests on his late show one evening in 1970 was Andre Previn, the recently appointed principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Mid-interview, Andre was asked about plans for his new career in England and he said that he would like to work with the young musicians of Leicestershire. Eric Pinkett and Jack Richards seized onto this opportunity like a dog with a bone and Mr. Previn – himself a major personality in the 1970’s – was soon signed up to conduct the orchestra on a new record for Argo. Previn chose three pieces to conduct: his own composition Overture to a Comedy, John Ireland’s beautiful little Elegy from A Downland Suite and an overture written for the LSSO by Herbert Chappell called Panache. Herbert Chappell, who had worked with the orchestra in 1968 on a television broadcast of his children’s piece Dead in Tune, also happened to be friendly with Andre Previn and he was responsible for giving the LSSO this new opportunity. The recording session took place in July 1970 at Decca’s Hampstead studios and the record was eventually released in April the following year.

The LSSO’s next involvement with Andre Previn was in a 1973 Omnibus television programme The Other LSO which showed the orchestra rehearsing Glinka, Beethoven and Rachmaninov. By way of artistic license the LSSO had suddenly become the LSO in order to make some sense of the programme’s title. A copy of this programme is kept in the LSSO archives.

Press articles relating to this recording and other information about Andre Previn can be seen in the reviews section of this website.

Sound clips: Ireland - Elegy