When legendary record producer John Culshaw left Decca in 1967 to become Head of Music at BBC Television, he inaugurated and supervised several series of André Previn’s Music Night, in which Previn would talk informally direct to camera and then turn and conduct the London Symphony Orchestra, whose members were dressed not in evening clothes but in casual sweaters or shirts. The programme attracted unprecedented viewing figures for classical music in the early and mid 1970s in the U.K.
Taking advantage of the television programme’s success, EMI recorded Previn and the LSO at the Kingsway Hall, London on 15 December 1974 and 19 & 20 May 1975 in a programme of popular music typical of the series.
Produced and engineered by Christopher Bishop and Christopher Parker respectively.
Cut at Abbey Road Studios from the original stereo analogue master tapes with the Neumann VMS80 lathe fed an analogue pre-cut signal from a specially adapted Studer A80 tape deck with additional playback head.
Pressed on 180g vinyl to audiophile standards
On Harry Pearson’s TAS (The Absolute Sound) List
Featuring the original album artwork

“Plainly with a big potential market to be won, EMI has encouraged the idea of making the sound larger than life, but it is still beautifully textured—an excellent demonstration record whether in the skittering horn calls at the start of Previn’s signature tune, the percussion in the Walton march, the harps in La Valse (a little closer than real but the playing certainly deserves it) or the flutes on their repeated notes at the start of L’Apprenti Sorcier.”, Edward Greenfield, GRAMOPHONE, September 1975