''Concerto for Group and Orchestra'' is a live album by

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

and the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

, conducted by Malcolm Arnold. Recorded at London's

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

in September 1969, it consists of a concerto composed by Jon Lord, with lyrics by

Ian Gillan Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is an English singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice. Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...

. The first full length album to feature Gillan on vocals and Roger Glover on bass, it was released on vinyl in December 1969. It was also the last Purple album distributed in the US by Tetragrammaton Records, which went defunct shortly after. The original performance included three additional songs: " Hush", "Wring That Neck", and " Child in Time". These were added to a 2002 reissue. Long planned by Jon Lord, the project was not very successful in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

but helped restore Purple's reputation and image in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The 1969 performance is considered "groundbreaking" because it was the first time that a major rock band recorded a live album with a full-fledged orchestra, cementing the "then odd but today very common" relationship between heavy rock and

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

. "I thought it was a total gimmick," observed guitarist

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English lead guitarist. He was a founding member and the guitarist of Deep Purple, one of the pioneering bands of hard rock. After leaving Deep Purple in 1975, Blackmore formed the band Rainbow ...

. "I told Jon I'd be prepared to try it, but that I had a lot of heavy rock numbers I wanted to put on an LP, and we'd see which one took off. I didn't want to be involved with the concerto because of the novelty effect, and the press we were getting out of playing it at the Royal Albert Hall. But I said that if the next LP didn't take off, I was prepared to play with orchestras for the rest of my life." The original score for the concerto was lost in 1970. However, it was performed again in 1999 with a recreated score, and has been performed several times since.

Original 1969 Royal Albert Hall performance

The piece was first performed and recorded on 24 September 1969 in the

, London, by

and The

, conducted by Malcolm Arnold. The programme consisted of:

Concerto

''Concerto for Group and Orchestra'' is split into three movements. ; ''First movement (Moderato – Allegro)'': After an extended orchestral introduction, the group and orchestra work as separate blocks, trying to get dominance over the main theme and working as antagonists to each other. There are

cadenza In music, a cadenza, (from , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist(s), usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing virtuosic display ...

s for electric guitar and clarinet. ; ''Second movement (Andante)'', with lyrics sung by

: This movement is based around two tunes that are played in various different arrangements by the orchestra and the group, individually and together. After a combined pop / blues version of the second tune, there is an organ cadenza followed by a quiet ending by the orchestra. ; ''Third movement (Vivace – Presto)'': Apart from Ian Paice's drum solo, the music combines the orchestra and group together in a "free for all". The movement alternates between 6/8 and 2/4 time signatures. The ''Concerto'' was first performed at the Albert Hall in London on 24 September 1969 with

and The

conducted by Malcolm Arnold. It was performed at second time at the Hollywood Bowl on 25 August 1970, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lawrence Foster, after which the score was lost.

Releases

''Concerto for Group and Orchestra'' was released on vinyl in December 1969 in the United States (

Tetragrammaton The TetragrammatonPronounced ; ; also known as the Tetragram. is the four-letter Hebrew-language theonym (transliteration, transliterated as YHWH or YHVH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four Hebrew letters, written and read from ...

) and in January 1970 in the United Kingdom (

Harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...

). These releases contained only the "Concerto", with the second movement broken in two-halves. Copies of the original US editions are rare as Tetragrammaton went bankrupt while the album was still being issued. In the following year, the ''Concerto'' became the only Tetragrammaton release to be reissued by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

, Deep Purple's new US label. On 4 April 1970 the ''Concerto'' was shown on British television as ''The Best of Both Worlds''. The 1990s saw a CD release including the songs "Wring That Neck" and " Child in Time". In 2002 EMI released special edition DVD-A, SACD and two-CD sets of ''Concerto for Group and Orchestra'', featuring the entire programme of music played that night. In 2003 a video recording of this concert was released on DVD. However, four and a half minutes of the 1st Movement are missing in this video, as it was taken straight from the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's 4 April 1970 broadcast of the event (see above). The edit was in the original BBC broadcast.

Track listing

1999 Royal Albert Hall performances

On 25 and 26 September 1999, thirty years after its initial performance, the ''Concerto'' was again performed in front of a live audience in the Royal Albert Hall. To make this performance possible, a new score was created by Lord with the assistance of Paul Mann and Marco de Goeij by listening to the recording and watching the video of the 1969 performance. Performers were: *The

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

, conducted by Paul Mann The programme consisted of: #'' Four Scottish Dances'' ( Malcolm Arnold), performed by the London Symphony Orchestra #"Pictured Within", performed by Jon Lord and Miller Anderson #"Wait A While", performed by Jon Lord and Sam Brown #"Sitting in a Dream", performed by Roger Glover and Ronnie James Dio #"Love Is All", performed by Roger Glover and Ronnie James Dio #"Via Miami", performed by Ian Gillan #"That's Why God Is Singing the Blues", performed by Ian Gillan #"Night Meets Light", performed by The Steve Morse Band #"Take It off the Top", performed by The Steve Morse Band #"Wring That Neck", performed by Ian Paice & The Kick Horns #''Concerto for Group and Orchestra'' (Jon Lord with lyrics by Ian Gillan), performed by Deep Purple and The London Symphony Orchestra ##"First Movement: Moderato – Allegro" (19:23) ##"Second Movement: Andante" (19:11) ##"Third Movement: Vivace – Presto" (13:09) #"Ted the Mechanic", performed by Deep Purple and The London Symphony Orchestra #"Watching the Sky", performed by Deep Purple and The London Symphony Orchestra #"Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming", performed by Deep Purple and The London Symphony Orchestra #"Pictures Of Home", performed by Deep Purple and The London Symphony Orchestra #"Smoke on the Water", performed by the evening's entire ensemble A recording of the concert was released on a double CD as '' Live at the Royal Albert Hall''. A cut recording of the performance was also released on DVD, entitled '' In Concert with the London Symphony Orchestra''.

2000–2001 tour

Encouraged by the success of the 1999 performances, Deep Purple took the ''Concerto'' on tour, first performing it in South America with local orchestras, then in Europe with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, in Japan with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, all conducted by Paul Mann.

40th anniversary performance

On 24 September 2009 Jon Lord joined the RTÉ Concerto Orchestra in the

National Concert Hall The National Concert Hall (NCH) (An Ceoláras Náisiúnta) is a national cultural institution, sometimes described as "the home of music in Ireland". It comprises the actual concert hall operation, which in various chambers hosts over 1,000 ...

, Dublin, Ireland to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first performance of ''Concerto for Group and Orchestra.'' Also performed, were pieces from Jon Lord's solo career and a number of Deep Purple songs including an orchestral version of Child In Time.

Further performances

The score of the concerto having been recreated, groups and orchestras across the world were free to perform it:

2012 studio version

In October 2012 a studio version of the ''Concerto for Group and Orchestra'' was released. The recording features the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Paul Mann. The soloists are Jon Lord (organ), Darin Vasilev (guitar in the 1st movement),

Joe Bonamassa Joseph Leonard Bonamassa ( ; born May 8, 1977) is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He started his career at age twelve, when he opened for B.B. King. Since 2000, Bonamassa has released fifteen solo albums through his inde ...

(guitar in the 2nd movement), Steve Morse (guitar in the 3rd movement), Steve Balsamo, Kasia Łaska, and Bruce Dickinson (vocals), Brett Morgan (drums), and Guy Pratt (bass). The orchestral parts were recorded at the

Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool Liverpool Philharmonic Hall is a concert hall on Hope Street, Liverpool, Hope Street in Liverpool, England. It is the home of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society and is recorded in the National Heritage List f ...

on 1 and 2 June 2011. The band parts were recorded in August and October 2011 and also in May 2012. The album was mixed at Abbey Road Studios in late May 2012. According to Paul Mann, Jon Lord heard the final master of the recording a few days before his death on 16 July 2012.

Reception

Malcolm Arnold's views

In an interview for hospital radio in Huddersfield in 1970, shortly after the Royal Albert Hall performance, Arnold provided a positive take on the experience:

Ritchie Blackmore's views

In a 1979 interview with ''Sounds'' magazineSounds, 15 December 1979 Blackmore said:

Legacy

The cover art of the Swedish heavy metal band

Opeth Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. The band incorporates folk music, folk, blues, classical music, classical, and jazz elements into its usually lengthy compositions, as well as strong influences from deat ...

's 2010 concert DVD '' In Live Concert at the Royal Albert Hall'' is intentionally similar in layout, colour and motive to that of Deep Purple's ''Concerto for Group and Orchestra'', "underlining Opeth's longstanding love for their prog-rock roots".

Personnel

* Jon Lord – organ, orchestral arrangements *

– guitars *

– vocals * Roger Glover – bass * Ian Paice – drums *

– orchestral instruments * Malcolm Arnold – conductor

Charts

;Original album (1969) ;Reunion performance (1999) ;Jon Lord's studio version (2012)

Notes

References

External links

1969 performance (& recording)
Vincent Budd, The Gemini Man: an Introduction to the Orchestral Works of Jon Lord, 2003, Gnosis Press {{Authority control Compositions by Jon Lord Group and Orchestra, Concerto for Deep Purple video albums Live albums recorded at the Royal Albert Hall 2003 video albums 1969 live albums Live video albums Warner Records live albums Harvest Records live albums Deep Purple live albums Polydor Records live albums Tetragrammaton Records live albums Albums produced by Jon Lord Albums produced by Ritchie Blackmore Albums produced by Ian Gillan Albums produced by Roger Glover Albums produced by Ian Paice Albums conducted by Malcolm Arnold Classical crossover albums Lost musical works Royal Philharmonic Orchestra albums Concerto albums