Jon Lord's legacy celebrated on 'Concerto for Group & Orchestra'

Countless music fans were saddened when Jon Lord lost his battle with pancreatic cancer and died on July 16, 2012. Now comes word of a forthcoming project from the legendary keyboard player that was completed shortly before his death. Here is the media release I received earlier today...

Eagle Rock Entertainment/earMUSIC releases Concerto For Group And Orchestra on September 25, 2012 

 

~The first studio recording of Jon Lord's groundbreaking meeting of rock and classical music~ 

 

On September 25, 2012, earMUSIC, the Hamburg-based rock label part of Edel Group, and Eagle Rock Entertainment will release the first studio recording of Jon Lord's groundbreaking meeting of rock and classical music - Concerto For Group And Orchestra. This will be released as a CD, CD/DVD (audio DVD in 5.1 Dolby Digital Sound), and digitally. 

 

“Over these last years since leaving Deep Purple, I’ve played it over 30 times with different orchestras 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 in 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

 

Jon Lord recorded the rhythm section - Guy Pratt (Pink Floyd, Madonna) & Brett Morgan (Jon Anderson, Sting) and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (with whom Jon had recorded twice before) in June 2011 in Liverpool, under conductor Paul Mann. The production then moved to Abbey Road Studios in London to record additions from such noted artists as Iron Maiden‘s Bruce Dickinson  (on vocals with Steve Balsamo and Kasia Laska) and Joe Bonamassa, Darin Vasilev and Steve Morse.

 

Happily, Jon got to hear and approve the final mixes a few weeks before he passed away. 

 

The family and earMUSIC decided to proceed with the release of the album in September as scheduled, as this seemed the best way to celebrate and pay tribute to Jon and his beautiful music. Thus this superb studio recording of Concerto For Group And Orchestra is exactly the way Jon wanted us to hear it and will now hopefully become part of Jon's legacy for generations to come.

With his legendary blues-rock sound, Deep Purple’s founder/organist Jon Lord has influenced decades of rock musicians. He is with no doubt the pioneer of fusing rock and classical/baroque forms and became one of the most important composers of the last few decades.

 

Jon Lord co-wrote many of Deep Purple’s legendary songs including “Smoke On The Water” and played with many bands and musicians throughout his career (Whitesnake, Paice Ashton Lord, George Harrison). Best known for his orchestral work Concerto For Group And Orchestra first performed and recorded at Royal Albert Hall with Deep Purple and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1969, conducted by the renowned Malcolm Arnold - a feat repeated in 1999 when it was again performed at the Royal Albert Hall by the London Symphony Orchestra and Deep Purple.

 

Jon’s solo work was universally acclaimed when he eventually retired from Deep Purple in 2002 but he continued to tour the Concerto around the world to sell-out crowds and standing ovations.

 

Eagle Rock Entertainment is the largest producer and distributor of music programming for DVD, Blu-Ray, TV, Audio and Digital Media in the world.  Eagle works directly alongside talent to produce top quality, High Definition and 3D programs, both concerts and documentaries, including The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, Queen, The Doors, Jeff Beck, U2, Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney and Ozzy Osbourne. Eagle is a Grammy Award winning company and has received over 30 multi-platinum, over 50 platinum and over 90 gold discs, worldwide.  Eagle Rock Entertainment has offices in London, New York, Toronto, Paris and Hamburg.