476 5197

1. Moderato - Allegro 16.202. Andante 19.343. Vivace - Presto 10.48

Second movement lyrics by Ian Gillan.All tracks published by B Feldman & Co Ltd T/A Hec Music

P & C 2012 Thompson Music P/L under licence to Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd under exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights of the owner of copyright reserved. Any copying, renting, lending, diffusion, public performance or broadcast of this record without the authority of the copyright owner is prohibited.

JON LORD CONCERTOF O R G R O U P A N D O R C H E S T R A R O YA L L I V E R P O O L P H I L H A R M O N I C O R C H E S T R Ac o n d u c t e d b y PA U L M A N NJ O N L O R D a n d S O L O I S T S

On the afternoon of July 16th 2012, as final preparations for this release were being made, Jon Lord’s passing robbed the world of a unique musician and took from Vicky, Sara, Amy and Reggie a much-loved husband, father and

grandfather. Those of us who were fortunate enough to be close to him have lost an irreplaceable friend. He heard the final master of this recording only a few days before he left us. On behalf of everyone involved, we dedicate

it to his memory with all our love.Paul Mann

JON LORD CONCERTOF O R G R O U P A N D O R C H E S T R A

JON LORD and PAUL MANN, LIVERPOOL 2011

Jon Lord’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra has a chequered history. It was

first performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Arnold at the Royal Albert Hall on September 24th 1969, with the band Lord had founded the previous year, Deep Purple, as soloists. After a further performance at the Hollywood Bowl in August 1970, the score and parts went missing and have never been recovered. The existence of the work today is due principally to the efforts of the Dutch composer Marco de Goeij, whose painstaking transcription of the score from its original recording during 1998-9 allowed the composer and myself to embark upon a full-scale reconstruction and revision prior to the 30th anniversary performances, again at the Albert Hall with Deep Purple, in September 1999. A couple of years ago, over a glass or two around Jon’s kitchen table, the idea arose of taking the Concerto into the studio for the first time. It was the composer’s suggestion to handpick the soloists,

choosing a different guitarist for each movement, and three separate vocalists. This had the effect of emphasising the nature of the music itself, rather than filtering everything through the personality of a single band. The Concerto is cast in three movements, over the course of which an evolving drama can be traced between the monolithic orchestra and its unruly guests. Retaining at least some aspects of traditional form, it opens with a long orchestral tutti, which might be heard as a kind of diary of the young Jon Lord’s favourite symphonic works. There are, for example, echoes of Sibelius’ First Symphony in the lonely clarinet solo of the opening bars, and of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth in a pizzicato episode near the beginning. But there is also a syncopated swing in the music which identifies the voice as Jon’s own, and he retains a tight control over his material, deploying it with a logic and economy which is genuinely ‘symphonic’.

JON LORD CONCERTOF O R G R O U P A N D O R C H E S T R A

Vicky, Amy and I are so pleased that this new studio recording is being released now. It saddens us deeply that Dad wasn’t able to see it come out for himself - but he, as with all the music he created, was fully involved in every stage of the process - having approved the artwork and mixes only a few weeks before he died. We know that it adds something new and

dynamic to the long, intricate and mystical tale of ‘the Concerto’, and we hope that it will be received as a welcome addition to his wondrous

and inspiring contributions to music. Thank you, from ‘his girls’ - Vicky, Amy and Sara.

Conductor : Paul MannViolin : Thelma Handy, Adi Brett, Rakhi Singh, Martin Richardson,

Concettina Del Vecchio, Alexander Marks, Donald Turnbull, Miriam Davis,Robert John Hebbron, David Whitehead, Stephan Mayer, Steven Wilkie,Helen Boardman, Wendy de St Paer, Katharine Richardson, Elen Richards,

Martin Clark, Martin Anthony Burrage, Patrick James Hutton, James Justin Evans, Nicola Gleed, Sheila Gascoyne, Sophie Coles, Kathryn Cropper, David Rimbault,

Claire Stranger-Ford, Noel Anderson, Viola : Catherine Marwood, John Robert Shepley, David Ruby, Richard Wallace,

Joanna Wesling, Rebecca Walters, Daniel Sanxis, Ian Fair, Carolyn Tregaskis, Michael Dale, Ros Cabot,

Cello : Ian Bracken, Gethyn Jones. Stephen Mann, Ruth Owens,Alexander Holladay, Nicholas Byrne, Joanna Lander, Simon Denton

Double Bass : Marcel Becker, Ashley Frampton, Nigel Dufty,Daniel Hammerton, Genna Spinks, Lowri Morgan

Flute : Cormac Henry, Fiona PatersonPiccolo : Claire Fillhart

Oboe : Tom Davey, Catrin Ruth DaviesCor Anglais : Rachael Pankhurst

Clarinet : Katherine Lacy, Thomas VerityBassoon : Alan Pendlebury, Gareth Twigg

Horn : Timothy Jackson, Simon Griffiths, David Pigott, Timothy Nicholson, Christopher Morley

Trumpet : Rhys Owens, Paul Marsden, Brendan BallTrombone : Simon Cowen, James Blyth Lindsay

Bass Trombone : Simon ChappellTuba : Robin HaggartTimpani : Neil Hitt

Percussion : Josephine Frieze, Henry Baldwin, Richard Winter, Harry PercyHarp : Eleanor Hudson

JON LORD CONCERTOR O YA L L I V E R P O O L P H I L H A R M O N I C O R C H E S T R A

Towards the end of the exposition, a handful of woodwinds hit upon a syncopated rhythm which sets up a cocky little tune in the solo clarinet. As if this display of symphonic complacency were the final straw, the band comes crashing in, sending the orchestra scattering in alarm. Having made its entrance in this somewhat indecorous manner, the band proceeds to take control, with a driving version of the clarinet tune from the opening, leading to a guitar improvisation in the home key of G minor. (It was this which Ritchie Blackmore seized upon with such manic glee at the original performance, building a solo of such astounding breadth and inventiveness that Malcolm Arnold began to wonder if he’d forgotten the cue to bring the orchestra back in.) The orchestra again attempts to wrest control, this time deploying heroic horns (and a very explicit reference to Holst’s Jupiter.) Increasingly un-intimidated, the band now proceeds to show off their Hammond organ player. As his solo begins to wind down, the orchestra begins muttering to itself, provoking a vertiginous crescendo and a solo cadenza for the

guitar. A nervous low rumble in the basses and timpani leads to a shortened recapitulation and climactic standoff in which band and orchestra exchange power chords at full force. When the dust clears, the same cheeky clarinet that had provoked the band’s first entrance now indulges in a solo cadenza of his own, as if parodying the guitarist. This culminates in a frenetic coda, a battle of wills in which the outcome is a draw. In the final moments, the equally matched protagonists hammer out a sequence of unison chords, bringing the movement roaring to its confrontational conclusion.

By greatest possible contrast, the second movement begins in a mood

of almost Russian bleakness, with a softly treading bass line, tolling bells, cold violin harmonics, and keening bassoons. First the flutes and then a cor anglais sing plaintively over a background of Sibelian string tremolandi. The band, sitting quietly through all of this, gently join in, as if realising that the orchestra is suggesting a whole new range of colours they might use. Ushered in by a short and striking reference to Dvorak’s New World

Executive Producers : Drew Thompson & Tarquin GotchManagement Jon Lord : Tarquin Gotch

Music Director : Paul Mann

Orchestral recording Producer : John FraserOrchestral recording Engineer : Philip HobbsOrchestral recording Editor : Julia Thomas

Engineer : Andrew DudmanAssistant Engineer : Pete Hutchings

Stereo and 5.1 Mastering : Martin Pullan (Edensound)

Photography : Mick GregoryPainting / cover concept: Ben Cunningham.

CD booklet design and artwork : easy on the eye Legal : Julian Hewitt (Media Arts Lawyers)

With grateful thanks to everyone who was involved :

Marco de Goeij, Jane Ward, Colette Barber, Robin Hurley, Rasmus Heide, Max Vaccaro, Robert Patterson, John Craig, Martin Buzacott, Warren Cracknell, Roy Weisman, Tiny Evans, Giampiero Soncini, James Ware, Jonathan Channon, Bruce New, Dipak Rao, Carla Perna, Cez Darke, Nigel Reeves, Wayne Godfrey, Joe Satriani, Mick Brigden, Steve Luthaker,

Ross Halfin, Lars Ulrich, Colin Hart , Holly Topps, Nigel Young, Simon Robinson.

P R O D U C T I O N C R E D I T S

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Jon Lord : organ. Darin Vasilev : guitar (1st Movement), Joe Bonamassa : guitar (2nd Movement), Steve Morse : guitar (3rd Movement)

Steve Balsamo : vocals, Kasia Łaska : vocals, Bruce Dickinson : vocalsBrett Morgan : drums. Guy Pratt : bass

JON LORD CONCERTOT H E S O L O I S T S

PAUL MANN and the ROYAL LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC, LIVERPOOL 2011

Symphony, the Hammond organ and solo guitar softly blend with the woodwinds. The music soon fractures into a sort of stylised 5/8 dance, taken up in turn by the band. At this point, the vocalist makes his first appearance. Ian Gillan’s lyrics were reportedly written perilously close to the deadline, over a bottle or two of Chianti in an Italian restaurant close to the Albert Hall, and they lay bare his apprehension about the impending concert:

How can I see when the light has gone out?How can I hear when you speak so silently?More than enough is never too much;Hold out a hand, I’m so out of touch...

The orchestra tries its 5/8 dance again, but seems unable to dispel the singer’s anxiety, and the Hammond again muses on the situation, together with sympathetic woodwinds. The cellos and basses lead an extended passage of lyrical counterpoint for the strings, which

JON LORD CONCERTOF O R G R O U P A N D O R C H E S T R A

KASIA ŁASKA, STEVE BALSAMO, ABBEY ROAD 2012 JON LORD and PAUL MANN, ABBEY ROAD AUGUST 2011

broadens into a passionately Tchaikovskian outburst from the whole orchestra. After this, it is again left to the organ and supporting woodwinds to announce an unexpected development: a full-blown twelve-bar blues, replete with searing guitar and Gillan’s ever more desperate misgivings:

What shall I do when they stand smiling at me?Look at the floor and be oh so cool...How will I know when to start singing my song?What shall I do if it all goes wrong?

After the blues has played itself out, a brass fanfare introduces the Hammond cadenza, which in turn leads to the Concerto’s most intensely personal episode: a string quartet takes up the organist’s final chords as if they have been listening intently to him all along. (It was no doubt here that some early critics identified a resemblance to Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis - indebted it may be, but pastiche it is not.) As the massed strings make their hushed final commentary on their quartet colleagues – marked “barely audible” in the score – and the violas intone a threnody of Shostakovich-like

desolation, the movement comes to its forlorn and deeply touching conclusion.

After this desolate landscape, the finale comes as a blast of renewed energy.

In Jon’s one serious departure from classical norms, it does not return to the original tonality of G minor, but retains the key of E Minor in which the second movement had ended. Only the most curmudgeonly of pedants would hold that against the young composer though, since the music is a remarkable tour de force of sustained forward momentum. Replacing the conflicts of the first movement with a shared ‘concerted’ effort, band and orchestra engage in an exhilarating exchange of ideas as if provoking, inspiring and emboldening one another.After the brassy opening flourish, in which the influence of Malcolm Arnold is especially strongly present, the strings set up a rhythm which turns out to be one of the Concerto’s in-jokes, being a string orchestra version of a drummer’s paradiddle. Over this, the horns heroically intone the movement’s main theme. As if provoked by the activities of the orchestra’s percussion section, the band’s drummer flexes his muscles, closely followed JON LORD CONCERTO

F O R G R O U P A N D O R C H E S T R A

MARCO DE GOEIJ, JON LORD and PAUL MANN, LIVERPOOL 2011

PAUL MANN, JON LORD and GUY PRATT, LIVERPOOL 2011

JON LORD CONCERTOF O R G R O U P A N D O R C H E S T R A

Clockwise from top left: DARIN VASILEV, JOE BONAMASSA, ABBEY ROAD 2012; STEVE MORSE, JUNE 2011

by the bass guitarist, leading to a gentle exchange of melodies between the solo guitar and Hammond organ, with the strings warmly and appreciatively accompanying the band. The drum solo provokes a good-natured battle with the orchestral percussionists, and as everyone joins the fray, one joyous moment of display leads breathtakingly to another. At one point, the orchestra transforms the band’s second movement blues theme into a wildly euphoric dance, but even this felicitous touch passes by so quickly as to be almost unnoticeable.

After a final exuberant unison “whoop” from the horns (a nod to another

favourite Arnold gesture) and the concluding crashing off-beat chord, it is clear that from a position of inherent incompatibility and conflict, group and orchestra have not only learnt to make music together: they have empowered one another in the process.And that’s as good a summary as any of my experience with this unique and extraordinary work. Without making any pretentious statements about “the relationship between rock and classical music” (there isn’t one), or “bringing a new

Above JON LORD and BRUCE DICKINSON : ABBEY ROAD, AUGUST 2011. Below BRETT MORGAN, LIVERPOOL 2011

audience to classical music” (the one it has seems to be doing just fine, thanks – and anyway no-one talks about bringing a new audience to rock...) we made music in the place where the best of both worlds meet. That was all Jon Lord intended back in 1969, and it is this, along with the appeal of the score itself, which assures the Concerto for Group and Orchestra its place in the repertoire. Paul Mann

A technical note on this recording. The orchestra sessions took place at Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, UK, on June 1st and 2nd, 2011, followed by two days of overdubbing at Abbey Road Studios, London; on August 13th (with Jon Lord and Bruce Dickinson), and on October 20th (with Kasia Laska, Steve Balsamo, and Joe Bonamassa.) On May 9th 2012, Steve Morse took a few hours off from working on the new Deep Purple album in Germany to revisit the finale, while Darin Vasilev added his guitar to the first movement in Sofia and in London. Mixing took place at Abbey Road with the brilliant Andrew Dudman over two days in late May 2012, supervised by the composer and myself.

Notes extracted from “Jon Lord’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra, A Personal History”.

JON LORD CONCERTOF O R G R O U P A N D O R C H E S T R A