There was a documentary on Andre Previn on either Ovation or Trio a couple of months ago, and it covered his entire career. I was dismayed to find he thinks so little of his Hollywood years and his work there despite three Oscars, loads of nominations, and a handful of classics to his name.
My favorite score of his is INSIDE DAISY CLOVER, and I think his arrangements and music direction are superb for PORGY AND BESS despite what the Gershwin estate thinks. I still think that single LP of soundtrack highlights is the best single disc PORGY AND BESS ever made.
He has made some terrible comments in his books about some of his finest movie scores, more or less relegating them to being fit only for the trash heap and admirable only to the tin-eared.
I think he had some atrocious experiences as a musician in Hollywood. It can be very demeaning and debasing for the true artist if the atmosphere surrounding his or her work isn't supportive of the creative process. When the studio system broke down and the studios' music departments were dismantled, a hierarchical structure vanished that had protected the artists for several decades. Virtually all the composers found themselves contracting as individuals to the various studios. And studios began losing their influence on the production of big films. The director became "auteur" whether he had the abilities to be "auteur" or not, and the only lines that could not be crossed were the budget lines....until Michael Cimino ruined that for everyone with "Heaven's Gate" and brought down a major studio (United Artists).
So, Previn was at his peak during the period when he was being contracted for his services and given limited time to do his work and being made responsible for scheduling recording time, etc., etc. I think he was fairly demoralized by the time the classical arena opened up to him and he hasn't truly gotten over it. How could any composer enjoy his work if the people giving it the thumbs up or thumbs down don't know a minor chord from a trill? (I know there have been exceptions...and I am certain it comes down to artistic sensitivity -- how sensitive a soul is and whether one can develop a thick enough skin about one's creativity).
Sad to say, none of his "original" work since his last film score has even remotely measured up to his finest film work. The most interesting music in his opera "A Streetcar Named Desire" are the cues for scene transitions...and they sound like they could have easily been taken from his scores to "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" or "Dead Ringer."
I, of course, cannot say that about "Anne-Sophie" as I've not heard it yet. But I do remember the PBS "Previn and the Pittsburgh" shows, and the most memorable among them were the shows that featured film music (for me, at any rate!). In one, he had as his guest Miklos Rozsa...and you could see the adoration Previn held for Rozsa, who was a colleague of the young Previn's in the late 1940s through the mid-50s at MGM.
I do think that if he ever reexamines his film work, he will find much that he should be very proud of. I believe he will be remembered much longer for that than for any of his "classical" compositions.
