Retain the final sense of ritual in classical music
People regard Plevin as a playboy, but he used his aura and star influence to successfully graft the aura of Hollywood to classical music, attracting a wider audience for the latter. —The Washington Post
One of the most impressive aspects of Plevin's career was his ability to easily span every aspect of American music life— whether it was jazz, classical, film or television soundtracks, Hollywood or Broadway, commercial projects or arts events. He is a composer, conductor and performer. In a way, he represents the moderate art that Americans appreciate, that is, to excel and strike a perfect balance in every way. — Music historian Ted Graulia
In the history of music, André Pleven has many identities, including conductor, composer and jazz pianist, four-time Winner of the Academy Award for Best Score, and has an unparalleled influence in Hollywood films, jazz and classical music.
At the age of 12, Plevin began to mix in jazz circles, showing a sincere passion for jazz piano, and his greatest achievement in jazz was in the field of trio and piano improvisation according to melodies, and the field of composition spanned film, drama, television series, pop, opera, solo, chamber music and concertos, and was known as an "encyclopedic" musical all-rounder in the 20th century music scene.
Born into a wealthy family in Berlin, Pleven was able to touch the piano from an early age, but later the family moved to the United States and settled in Los Angeles. As a teenager, he went to Hollywood to work for a living, thanks to his relative Charles Pleven (who was music director at Universal Pictures at the time). Because of his introduction, Pleven was quickly photographed by Hollywood, and at the age of 18, he joined MGM as a composer and conductor of MGM, scoring and arranging for movies. Pleven recalls: "Hollywood studios always liked people who paid very little, who were very fast, and who were very talented, and I was a kid at the time. It was by chance that Pleven began his Hollywood career.
Hollywood's new favorite
In 1955, his musical drama film Beauty was nominated for the 1967 Academy Award for Best Score. A first-time taste of sweetness, he composed, adapted, arranged, played and conducted up to 50 film music in the following Hollywood career, received 11 Oscar nominations, and won four Oscars for "World of Gold Powder" in 1958, "Pooggi and Beth" in 1959, "Emma Girl" in 1963, and "Lady of the Flowers" in 1964.
Stills from the movie "World of Gold Powder"
Pleven and Audrey Hepburn
In 1958, the Grammy Awards were created, and Plevin won five Grammy Awards for four consecutive years. The first edition won the film score with "World of Gold Powder"; the second edition won the band performance with the single "As If Young", and won the film soundtrack with "Porgy and Beth"; the third edition won the jazz ensemble with "West End Story"; and in 1961, he won the jazz ensemble again with the album of Harold Allen. There is no doubt that Hollywood has given him the perfect platform to display his talents, and has also shown the world his peak achievements and achievements in piano playing, conducting orchestras, original songs and adapting instruments.
March into the command world
In the early 1960s, he wanted to continue his career as a conductor, but as early as the 1950s, Plevin studied command with the French conductor Pierre Mondous while serving in the military. Although he served as a conductor on the Hollywood set while recording film scores for mgm bands, he still longed for a serious conducting career, so he made an important decision to say goodbye to his glorious Hollywood career.
However, this transformation was not smooth, and at first, on the podium of classical music, he did not get a good welcome, and even felt that the circle was full of deep hostility towards him. In a 1968 interview with The New York Times, he said: "There are a handful of music critics in the United States who can forgive you for jazzing and eating prison, but they can't forgive you for writing musicals for Hollywood." "The implication is that it's hard to associate Plevin with serious music.
But once again, Pleven proved himself with talent and strength. From 1968 to 1979 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, an orchestra that grew rapidly under his leadership, becoming the first British orchestra to visit the Salzburg Festival in 1973 and bringing the Austrian premiere of Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony. In terms of recording, he recorded the complete symphony collection for the works of Vaughan Williams, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev, and produced an average of 14 albums per year over 11 years, and the finished product was very prolific.
In the United States, he was Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra from 1976 to 1984, and in the late 1980s he briefly served as Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra before resigning due to a disagreement with management, and he was Also Director of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (2002-2006) and Principal Guest Conductor of the Tokyo NHK Symphony Orchestra.
Even though the conductor took up a lot of time, Plevin still insisted on composing. In 1970 he wrote a guitar concerto for guitarist John Williams, a piano concerto for Ashkenazy, a cello sonata for Yo-Yo Ma, and a violin concerto for his fifth wife, the famous violinist Mutter, anne-Sophie, which also won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Solo. Also adapted for soprano Rennie Fleming's opera of the same name based on Tennessee Williams' Streetcar Desire, which is also Plevin's largest work, and he can be said to be an uncompromising "all-round" composer.
Once again, with his strength and talent, he recreated possibilities and successfully became the darling of the podium, which made those who once looked down on him change their minds. Whether in the field of film scoring, composition or conducting, he has achieved amazing success.
A married life that people talk about
In terms of life, the versatile artist is also most talked about for his amorous, five marriages in his life, and his first wife was jazz singer Betty Bennett, who had two daughters. His second wife was songwriter Dry Langan, who collaborated on many songs, including Sinatra and Barbara Streisand's widely circulated "You'll Hear From Me."
Later, When Dory Langan suffered from mental problems, Plevin cleaved his legs and married his third wife, Mia Farrow, with twin sons. Nine years later, before the two divorced, they had another child and adopted three children, including a Korean girl, Song Yi. Song Yi grew up and married wu di Allen, the boyfriend of his third wife, Mia, and finally the angry Plevin broke off his adoption relationship with Song Yi.
He had a son with his fourth wife, Heather Sneddon Pleven, who divorced in 1999. In 2002, Pleven married his fifth wife, the well-known German violinist Anne-Sophie Moot, but the marriage lasted only five years.
In an interview on his 80th birthday, he was asked if he had regrets about his private life, he said. "In my private life, though I made some really bad choices. But I've always taken myself seriously, with music. ”
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Warner Classics 1971-1987 Complete Recordings of HMV and Teldec Labels
In 2019, Pleven died in New York at the age of 89. In his honor, Warner Classics integrated all of his recordings from the EMI and Teldec labels from 1971 to 1987. The vast majority of recordings are the result of his 11 years of collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra, along with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic. The repertoire ranges from classical to jazz, as well as works conducted by Plevin, played on the piano and composed by himself.
Instrumental musicians such as Jeong Kyung-ho, Kennedy, Rupp, Romero, Ravi Shankar, Totrier and others, while vocalists include Jenna Baker, Barto and other well-known artists in their respective fields.
The album consists of 96 CDs, including at least six album tracks released on CD for the first time, along with a memorable CD by Jon Tolansky, Remembering Plevin Previn – A Memoir. In it, you can enjoy the masterpieces left to us by this versatile master and fully feel his wonderful transformation life.
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