André Previn - Diversions · Songs / Fleming · Bonney · Wiener Phil. · LSO · Previn

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
André Previn's long and distinguished career as a conductor has overshadowed his work as a composer and pianist, but this disc of "diversions" lifts the curtain, offering a fair sampling of Previn's output. The Diversions show his flair for colorful orchestration--in both scurrying, energetic writing and bitter-sweet lyrical material. Sallie Chisum Remembers Billy the Kid, a prostitute's account of the celebrated outlaw (with a text by The English Patient author Michael Ondaatje), is sung beautifully by Barbara Bonney, who is joined by cellist Moray Welsh for the haunting Vocalise. Renée Fleming, star of Previn's opera A Streetcar Named Desire, takes the honors in The Giraffes Go to Hamburg. It's a piece on animal suffering, whose quirkiness probably requires a Fleming to bring it off. She rounds off the disc with Previn at the piano for Three Dickinson Songs, notable as much as anything else for his sure feel for instrumental color. The third song, the beautiful and atmospheric Good Morning Midnight, makes a superb end to the program. If it leaves you wanting more, perhaps the record company will be a little more generous next time than the 56 minutes it gives us on this collection. --Keith Clarke

Tracks:

Diversions: I. Prologue - VPO/Andre Previn
Diversions: II. Passacaglia (Slow) - Peter Schmidl/Franz Bartolomey/Gunter Federsel
Diversions: III. (Fast) - Wolfgang Tombock Jr/Gotthard Eder
Diversions: IV. (Slowly) - Michael Werba/Martin Gabriel/Meinhart Neidermayr
Sallie Chisum Remembers Billy The Kid - Barbara Bonney/Moray Welsh
Vocalise - Barbara Bonney/Moray Welsh
The Giraffes Go To Hamburg - Renee Siebert
Three Dickinson Songs: I. As Imperceptibly As Grief - Renee Fleming/Andre Previn
Three Dickinson Songs: II. Will There Really Be A Morning - Renee Fleming/Andre Previn
Three Dickinson Songs: III. Good Morning Midnight - Renee Fleming/Andre Previn

Amazon.com

André Previn's long and distinguished career as a conductor has overshadowed his work as a composer and pianist, but this disc of "diversions" lifts the curtain, offering a fair sampling of Previn's output. The Diversions show his flair for colorful orchestration--in both scurrying, energetic writing and bitter-sweet lyrical material. Sallie Chisum Remembers Billy the Kid, a prostitute's account of the celebrated outlaw (with a text by The English Patient author Michael Ondaatje), is sung beautifully by Barbara Bonney, who is joined by cellist Moray Welsh for the haunting Vocalise. Renée Fleming, star of Previn's opera A Streetcar Named Desire, takes the honors in The Giraffes Go to Hamburg. It's a piece on animal suffering, whose quirkiness probably requires a Fleming to bring it off. She rounds off the disc with Previn at the piano for Three Dickinson Songs, notable as much as anything else for his sure feel for instrumental color. The third song, the beautiful and atmospheric Good Morning Midnight, makes a superb end to the program. If it leaves you wanting more, perhaps the record company will be a little more generous next time than the 56 minutes it gives us on this collection. --Keith Clarke

Customer Reviews:

Previn, Bonney and Fleming.......2001-11-12

To say that Andre Previn has had an eclectic musical career would be an understement. He has written movies scores ("Two for the Seesaw"), opera ("A Streetcar named Desire"), played jazz piano and composed symphonic music. In his "Diversions/Songs" he has written both a suite in four movements and 2 long songs: one, sung by Barbara Bonney based on Michael Ondaatje's poem about Billy the Kid and the other sung by Renee Fleming based on Isak Dinesen's "Out of Africa."
All of the music is quite beautiful and in the Suite in particular you can hear echoes of all his former musical lives: jazz, blues, etc. The Dinesen piece was written especially for Ms. Fleming and in it.. she shines. Her tone is bright yet very human and womanly....a little sexual even. Bonney also acquits herself well in the Billy the Kid piece. This is a perfect CD for those just beginning to appreciate Classical music: it's accessible on a very basic level because of it's surface beauty yet sophisticated, diverse and complicated enough to please those with a history of enjoying classical music.

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

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