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Andre Previn - The Kindness of Strangers

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Of the many pleasures this documentary affords, the greatest is Andre Previn himself, who must surely be one of the wittiest, most engaging raconteurs alive.

The documentary is ostensibly about the rehearsal process and world premiere of Previn's first opera (may it not be his last!), but it is really about music in general. Previn has always made headlines -- often for the wrong reasons -- but it seems that at long, long last, critics are beginning to realize what the hearing public has known all along, viz, that Sir Andr? is one of the four or five finest conductors working today. (For my money, he is hands-down the greatest.)

There is a lot of talk in the documentary about the way critical opinion has, ever since Previn stopped composing movie scores, routinely dismissed him as a Hollywood hack. Previn speaks about this foolish, exasperating musicological snobbery with humorous resignation, but one can easily imagine the toll it must have exacted from him over the years. Frankly, Hollywood's loss has been classical music's gain: I could only wish Sir Andre had the time and inclination to continue to compose for pictures. It almost hurts to consider what his genius could have done for "Titanic" or "The Lord of the Rings" -- movies on a grand scale that would have been greatly enhanced by a first rate score. The simple truth is Previn has always been a superb musician, a great conductor and a fine composer. This thoroughly engrossing movie should lay to rest any lingering doubts one may entertain about Previn's artistic credentials or his profound understanding of all forms of music (excluding, by his own admission, rock). An artist of the most penetrating sensitivity combined with an almost diabolical hard-headed practicality, he wears his erudition lightly and with splendid panache.

There is wonderful footage of the opera ("A Streetcar Named Desire") in rehearsal and in performance, and the clever editing gives a nice sense of the many tensions and difficulties attendant upon mounting a major opera.

But the chief attraction is Previn himself -- not only a great artist, but also a brilliantly scintillating, charming man who, to borrow a phrase from William Shakespeare, is full of "sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not."

There is some brief mention about his musical upbringing: mainly by his lawyer father when he was in Germany before he was 8 or 9. Andre spoke a lot in this DVD. And perhaps because of his European background, and also his musical training, his spoken English, almost as spellbinding as Menuhin, is most un-American like and definitley without the slightest trace of any jazz at all...

Of the three-horse chariot he has been riding, the most controversial would be that of a pianist inspite of the fact that Philips listed him as a great pianists of the century. And one could only say with regret that little clue, if at all, could be found from this DVD to justify it one way or the other. Well, he did play a short piece of jazz music here, which is superb, plus an exerpt of some classical chamber music. Oddly enough, the chamber musicians as shown on the footage didn't bow to the way the pianist was interpreting the music, and moreover, few classical musicians in the symphony orchestra under his baton are well versed with his jazz music at all! And that inevitably brings to my mind of the ironic fact that while Gulda was given, so to speak, severely punishment for his dedication and talents in jazz music, whereas Andre is so well honoured for about the same cause!

He is, however, given fuller coverage as a conductor but one can't help getting the feeling that there is so much more to be desired even in this repect. And information-- leave alone any analysis or appreciation -- of his life as a composer, be it just Kindness of Strangers or otherwise, is rather limited. And in any event, as seen from the DVD, it is much less colourful than that of Korngold's, both in terms of quantity and quality save and except perhaps for the jazz world, which few classical musicians are at home with. A good DVD for Andre's fans and jazz music lovers.

As I am a fan of Andre Previn and have never seen him in action outside of the arena I found this film to be quite interesting. It brings to the audience more insight on the man himself. If you are an Andre Previn fan I would highly recommend it. However, through this bio I thought that it focused a little more than what I would like on the "Streetcar Named Desire" play that he had been working on. Briefly boring in this respect.