Sitar Concertos of Ravi Shankar

Indian classical music in a Western classical orchestral setting was frowned upon until Andre Previn, newly appointed Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra & familiar with other genres like Jazz & film scores decided to ask LSO to commission a Sitar Concerto by Ravi Shankar. The work was composed, performed & later recorded. The record, with the most beautiful of all Ravi Shankar LP jackets, sold "like a pop record."

Though he was the initiator of the project, Previn did not develop a close rapport with the composer & soloist like Zubin Mehta, who collaborated with Ravi Shankar for the second concerto. Later Previn even made unseemly remarks about the work, which he himself had commissioned. 

About a decade later, a second Sitar Concerto was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta conducting the world premiere. Both the Composer/Soloist & the Conductor got along like a house on fire this time, Mehta even playfully  suggesting to Shankar to make the work more complex!

Later it was also performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra before a distinguished audience including the Prince of Wales & the Prime Ministers of U.K. & India. Subsequent recording was made digitally.

The crux of the matter is that in spite of the lack of rapport between composer & conductor, less technically demanding music & less advanced technology (analogue recording), the first Concerto makes for more delightful listening to many aficianados of both Indian & Western classical music even today! Even the reproduction sounds better may be because the pressing was on heavier vinyl.