Sic transit André Previn

The Guardian has a delightful article about an interview the writer had, that began very badly, with André Previn.

André Previn's version of Rhapsody in Blue was my favourite record when I went up to university but I hadn't realised what a remarkable career Mr Previn had. He worked with Ralph Vaughan Williams, Olivier Messiaen, Oscar Peterson and Leonard Bernstein. Everyone knew he conducted the LSO and married Mia Farrow, but I did not know he was responsible for the score of the film version of My Fair Lady, for which he won an Oscar, nor that this was one of his four Oscars.


But the best part of the article, and what the reader is really waiting for, is saved till the last paragraph.

By now Previn was gregarious, even jolly. The discussion turned to minimalism – “It’s kind of mean music, I prefer a lush sound,” – and a conversation he’d once had with Boulez (“a brilliant man”) about how electronic music could give every note computer-like precision, and from Boulez we moved seamlessly to Morecambe & Wise. I told Previn that my favourite line of the sketch – which sent up Eric’s efforts to play the Grieg Piano Concerto – was “for another fiver we could have had Ted Heath”. Previn’s face creased with mirth, and I was pleased to see that the sketch meant as much to him as everybody else. “Eric was very worried that I wasn’t a comedian. He said, ‘If anyone thinks we’re trying to be funny, we’re finished. We must act as though it’s very serious.’ The sketch was scheduled at about five minutes, but when we did it on air it was nearer 10. Eric added bits as he went, like when he slapped my face. To this day, whenever I walk down a street in London someone will shout, ‘Hey, Mr Preview.’ Every single bloody time.”