André Previn

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the composer and conductor André Previn. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how he and his family fled from Nazi Germany and ended up in California. His skill as a jazz musician led to a job at MGM and four Oscars for the film scores he wrote there. However, in the mid-1960s he turned his back on Hollywood and became principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. He'll be discussing this dramatic transition, his famous appearance on the Morecambe and Wise Show and the perils of his now-abandoned celebrity status.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Symphony No 40 In G Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The collected works by Anton Chekhov Luxury: Piano