Compositions
Previn has composed film scores (including many songs), jazz pieces and contemporary classical music. His earliest compositions known at least by name/type are student works from the mid 1940s (a Clarinet Sonata, a String Quartet, a Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra and some art songs). They were written at the same time as he did his first work for the movies (1946) and his first jazz recordings (1945).
In Hollywood between 1946 and 1969, Previn also worked extensively as an adapter, winning his four Academy Awards (out of 13 nominations) for works in this category: Gigi (Original score by Frederick Loewe for the film), Porgy and Bess (stage-to-film adaptation of George Gershwins opera score), Irma la Douce (related to Marguerite Monnots musical score, but not as a stage-to-film adaptation becoming a musical film) and My Fair Lady (stage-to-film adaptation of Fredrick Loewes musical score). While working as an adaptationer, Previn regularly modified the original compositions. At times, he was adding some own music, orchestrating, conducting and playing piano, too. So in saying that Previn worked as an adaptationer means that he was heavily involved in those films on every level of his versatile musicianship as a composer, arranger, orchestrator, conductor and pianist. His ability to make the works of others shine, is one of the main characteristics of his career, an ability, that is also central to his work as a jazz musician, as an interpreter in classical music and as a host in television.
In later years, he has concentrated on composing contemporary classical music. In this field, Previn's works as a composer "combine expressionistic harmony with a strong tendency towards tonality. They are rhythmic and metrically complex, marvelously orchestrated, and include flashes of idioms associated with jazz and symphonic film music. Despite the crossover appeal that Previn’s art music provokes in the ears of many commentators, Previn does not see himself as a postmodern musician, trying to mix musical styles and elements to create new kinds of aesthetic experiences." For example, he collaborated with Tom Stoppard on Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, a play with substantial musical content, which was first performed in London in 1977 with Previn conducting the LSO. His first opera, A Streetcar Named Desire, premiered at the San Francisco Opera in 1998. It quickly developed into one of the most widely played contemporary operas. His second opera, Brief Encounter, based on the 1945 movie of the same name, was premiered at Houston Grand Opera on May 1, 2009. His numerous other contemporary classical works include vocal, chamber, and orchestral music. His contemporary classical music was premiered by artists like Vladimir Ashkenazy, Janet Baker, Yuri Bashmet, Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Itzhak Perlman, John Williams, the Emerson String Quartet, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic. The closest working relationships with regard to Previn's contemporary classical music are with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, having premiered six works between 2001 and 2012, and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, having premiered (as an ensemble or with smaller groups or soloists from its ranks) nine works between 1996 and 2012.
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