Shelly Manne and Friends - My Fair Lady (Contemporary, 1956)
Previn arranged the score for the 1964 movie of Lerner and Loewe’s musical, but eight years earlier while still unknown, he’d arranged eight of its numbers for jazz trio, also playing piano on what became the best-selling album.
Shostakovich: Symphony No 5 (RCA, 1965)
Though never a Shostakovich specialist, this version of the Fifth, recorded in the year that Previn first conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, vividly conveys his visceral, energised take on 20th-century repertoire in those days.
Walton: Symphony No 1 (RCA, 1967)
One of the most enduring of Previn’s recordings with the LSO, an adrenalin-packed performance of Walton’s feisty score that has hardly been bettered on disc in the half century since.
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos 1–4 (Decca, 1970)
Vladimir Ashkenazy’s first cycle of the Rachmaninov concertos has remained one of his finest achievements on disc for almost half a century, and Previn and the LSO play a major part in its success, thanks to the rapport between the pianist and the conductor.
Vaughan Williams: The Symphonies (RCA, 1970-72)
Previn’s years with the LSO produced a wealth of fine recordings, but none better than their Vaughan Williams’ cycle, timely performances that demonstrated how Vaughan Williams need not just be the province of home-grown conductors.
Grieg and Schumann: Piano Concertos (Decca, 1973)
The famously publicity-shy Radu Lupu and the media-savvy Previn hardly seemed the most likely pairing, but their partnership in two of the most popular piano concertos in the repertoire proved utterly convincing.
Messiaen: Turangalîla Symphony (EMI, 1978)
Nowadays there’s no shortage of fine recordings of Messiaen’s most popular orchestral work, but Previn’s still version stands up well. When it first came out, it set new performing standards in what was regarded as a “difficult” score.
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (EMI, 1986)
Previn recorded the complete score of Tchaikovsky’s final ballet twice; this second version was made with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, where he was principal conductor from 1985-92.
Strauss: An Alpine Symphony (Telarc, 1990)
Towards the end of Previn’s career, his qualities in works from the Austro-German tradition really came to the fore, especially in a series of spacious Richard Strauss recordings from the 1990s with the Vienna Philharmonic.
Sure Thing - Jerome Kern Songbook (Philips, 1993)
Sylvia McNair accompanied by Previn in beautifully straightforward versions of some of the greatest 20th-century American songs - a reminder of where his career all began.
