It’s getting to the point in my like whereby a few of my
musical heroes are passing on to that great gig in the sky. The most recent
loss being the greatest exponent of his instrument, Jon Lord. I didn’t know the fella, but all the interviews
I’ve read over the years in the likes of
Sounds, Kerrang!, and more recently Classic Rock, he always came across as an
absolute gent, when quite a few come over as complete arses. He was present at
my first ever gig, Whitesnake at Deeside leisure Centre in 82. He wrung the
neck off that frigging Hammond organ, and a love story was begun….Happy days!
Right at the dawn of Deep Purple, Lord wanted to express his
Classical tendencies with ‘April’, but the highlight for Purple fans was when
Jon and Ritchie used to fight it out note for note. I always feel he was
wasting his talents in Whitesnake, but I suspect it paid the bills.
Just before he died, I was watching the same (original) Deep
Purple concert on the telly, and yes it looked dated, but it was an absolute
joy to watch.
Here we are some 43 years later from the original release. ‘’Over
these last years since leaving Deep Purple. I’ve played it over 30 times with
different orchestrations and conductors all over the world, and, of course, in
2000 I did it well over 30 times with Purple on the Concerto tour, so I’ve been
honing the piece live on stage, and I’ve had the opportunity to change things
on the score that weren’t sounding quite right. It is therefore a marvellous
and exciting prospect to have the definitive recording of the definitive
version of the score’’ Jon Lord, May 2012.
He recorded the rhythm section – Guy Pratt (Floyd, Madonna)
& Brett Morgan (Jon Anderson, Sting) and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra in June 2011 in Liverpool –
conducted by Paul Mann. Production then moved to Abbey Road Studios to record
Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson (on vox with Steve Balsamo and Kasia Laska) and Joe
Bonamassa, Darin Vasilev (who played all the guitars in the first movement) and
Steve Morse on Guitars. Wow!
Guy Pratt (bass), Jon Lord, Paul Mann during the Liverpool recording
The original score was lost in 1970, and it was performed
again in 1999 with a recreated score. Dutch composer Marco de Goeij had the unenviable
task of recreating the score by listening to the recording and watching the
video of the 1969 performance.
The premise is that the rock band, and the orchestra vie for
the main musical theme over two movements, and by the third movement, both are
knitted together in harmonious synchronicity. Its a three movement composition.
The movements are “Moderato-Allegro” (16:20) I have to say that Vasiliev
performs out of his skin, “Andante” (19:34), and “Vivace-Presto” (10:48). Most
rock officianados will gravitate towards the final movement, but after many listens
over the years, I’ve come to appreciate the total classical work of all three.
It just has to be listened to in its entirety
Just hearing the final version is enough to make a grown man
cry. All the artists make great contributions to the piece. Lord is one of the
few people who make his Hammond sound meaner than a guitar and truly has a
trademarked sound. This version is the one he wanted us all to hear.
Thankfully just before his death Jon Lord gave it is approval.
He leaves behind a truly great legacy of music. He will be sorely missed. A
great epitaph to a great man
SCORE : 90/100
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