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The white heat of inspiration
Paul Mann, who was instrumental in reviving of the Concerto for Group and Orchestra and is conducting the studio recording (to be released at the end of the month), has written a detailed essay on his engagement with its inspirational composer. The essay has been published in the Arts Journal.
The 28-year-old Jon Lord, with no experience at all of writing for orchestra, had a matter of three months in which to produce a full scale Concerto armed with nothing but Cecil Forsyth’s Orchestration, his prodigious imagination and a lot of coffee. Returning to his London flat each night, often after a Deep Purple gig, he spread himself out on the floor (he didn’t have a desk big enough) and composed in ink, straight into full score. (“I later learnt to use a pencil”, he said, somewhat ruefully.)
That the resulting work is so rich in invention, sound in structure, and sophisticated in craftsmanship says a great deal for the white heat of Jon’s inspiration. The fifty-minute piece broke new ground at the time, and seems only to have grown in stature across the intervening forty or more years.
Read more in the Arts Journal.
Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Not at all surprised, jon is brilliant musician .
September 20th, 2012 at 22:12Still can’t believe he’s gone. Still listen to something of his every day. Always will. One of those people you just want to say thank you to.
October 4th, 2012 at 15:33