Jon Lord playing “Child in Time”
Two photos of Jon Lord during “Child in Time”. The orchestral version had the Hammond organ as the leading instrument.
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Jon Lord playing the Hammond organ during “Child in Time”
A close-up of Jon Lord playing the Hammond organ during “Child in Time“, gesturing / signalling to his fellow musicians with his left hand.
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Jon Lord with the “Children in Time” choir in the background
Jon Lord plays the Hammond organ during “Child in Time”. In the background, the “Children in Time” choir is seen. Keyboardist Magnus Johansen is also seen on the left hand side in the background.
The “Children in Time” choir was, as the name suggests, gathered for the concert. Conducted by Elen Cath Furunes, the children’s choir was made up of then current and former song students at the Stjørdal school of culture – a municipal cultural offering for school children. Here’s an article about the choir from local newspaper Stjørdalens blad. (And if you, like a surprisingly large percentage of the world’s population, find yourself Norwegianally challenged, Google Translate is your friend.)
This was the first and only time “Child in Time” was performed by Jon with a choir. Jon wrote a totally new choir arrangement for this concert, which the choir received during the same week the concert was performed. They did a wonderful job, as can be seen and heard on the video from the concert.
Conductor Elen is in fact married to another of the unsung heroes of the evening – Terje Craig Furunes, who through his production company Craigtones produced the event. His version of “Smoke on the Water” translated to “nynorsk” during the birthday celebration that preceded the concert was also something to remember for those of lucky enough to be present.
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Jon Lord playing the intro to “Child in Time”. Conductor Torodd Wigum leading the orchestra in the background.
Such a mighty moment. Jon Lord has moved from the grand piano to his “weapon of choice” in his days as a member of what was one of the biggest rock bands in the world during the 1970’s.
Starting to play on the Hammond organ, the opening chords – G – G – Am – from Deep Purple’s epic song “Child in Time“ from equally legendary 1970 album “Deep Purple in Rock“ from 1970.
What can I say? Being able to stand a couple of meters away as Jon played THAT intro, surely was an emotional moment for an old fan.
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Jon Lord takes the sheet music, then communicates with conductor.
Jon Lord takes the sheet music from the grand piano, then communicates with the conductor as they’re getting ready for a new number.
It’s a number where Jon will be using the Hammond organ in the background extensively.
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Jon Lord playing “Pictured Within” on the grand piano.
Jon Lord playing “Pictured Within“ on the grand piano.
(Click the link above to see the video from the concert from the “Trondheim Experiment” webpage.)
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No usage without my written consent. Links to the blog and blogs posts on social media etc are of course OK, but stealing the photos without permission is not.
Nathalie Lorichs and Steve Balsamo singing “Pictured WIthin”
Nathalie Lorichs singing backing vocals and Steve Balsamo handling the lead vocals for “Pictured Within”.
Vocalist Steve Balsamo practically came “out of nowhere” when he impressed Andrew Lloyd Webber so much that he landed the title part in “Jesus Christ Superstar” in the production at the Lyceum Theatre in London from 1996 to 1997. His TV performance of “Gethsemane” reputedly sold tickets for the show for GBP 160,000 within half an hour, and saw the world famous composer calling him “one of the most exciting talents it’s ever been my privilege to discover”. Steve had only played the part at college prior to this.
In 1997 he also sang the part at Værnes Church during the Hell Blues Festival in Norway – where Knut Morten Johansen was one of the organizers. Knowing Knut Morten’s part in organizing Jon Lord’s orchestral concert in the Nidaros Cathedral in 2003 – the concert that in large part gave Jon the confidence to continue with his orchestral music – I wouldn’t have been surprised if Knut Morten was the one suggesting Steve as a fitting singer for Jon. But indeed – the man himself assures me that this was not the case, and that Jon and Steve starting to collaborate had nothing to do with him.
Steve Balsamo reputedly has a massive three and a half octave vocal range, thus nearly matching the vocal range of the young Ian Gillan – who sang the title part on the original studio version of “Jesus Christ Superstar“ in 1970. Steve matches Ian in vocal range, but has a distinctly different voice – what I would call a “cleaner” sound, where the young Ian Gillan could add a rawer, more powerful sound. Apples and oranges – both are / were great. Steve clearly states Ian’s version was a huge influence.
(A colour version of this photo has previously been published.)
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From the left: Jon Lord, and singers Nathalie Lorichs and Steve Balsamo, about to play “Pictured Within”
As they’re launching into “Pictured Within”, the vocalists start to appear on stage.
The song was orginally recorded with Jon’s friend Miller Anderson singing. For this concert, Welsh vocalist Steve Balsamo was the main male vocalist. Steve had worked a lot with Jon the last years prior to this concert. They were working on an album of songs at the time, this sadly was never to be completed.
Swedish vocalist Nathalie Lorichs is the daughter of Christer Lorichs, a long time friend of Jon, so I think it’s safe to say she’s been raised on Jon’s music. She is also Martin Axenrot’s partner.
We’ll be seeing more of both of them in the coming posts.
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No usage without my written consent. Links to the blog and blogs posts on social media etc are of course OK, but stealing the photos without permission is not.
Jon Lord with the sheet music for “Pictured Within” in front of him. Keyboardist Magnus Johansen in the background.
About to begin the rehearsals for another number, Jon Lord sits at the grand piano with the sheet music in front of him. Keyboardist Magnus Johansen in the background.
In this photo the focal plane also is on the sheet music itself, so at least I (having access to the full size files and being able to zoom in to 100 %) can read what it says.
“Pictured Within“.
As conductor and friend Paul Mann writes on the notes for the score on the official Jon Lord page:
“Edward Elgar dedicated his Enigma Variations, a series of musical character sketches, ‘to my friends pictured within’, and it is from this that Jon took the title of his 1997 album.
The intensely elegiac nature of the album as a whole taps into that same peculiarly English vein of melancholy which Jon so loved about his great musical ancestor. As with its companion, Evening Song, Pictured Within contains clear references to Enigma’s most celebrated movement, Nimrod, and while the motivic resemblances may be subconscious, it is certainly no coincidence that Jon chose to reflect Elgar’s paean to the love of friends and family in his own very personal music.”
The album for which “Pictured Within” was the title track was released in 1998. Jon was still a member of Deep Purple, but none knew at the time that he had recorded his final studio album with the band. “Pictured Within” was Jon’s first work involving orchestral music since “Sarabande“ in 1976 and his first solo album since “Before I Forget” from 1982.
The album being mainly instrumental, the title track and two songs written with and sung by Sam Brown were the exceptions. The title track reflects the contemplative nature of the music.
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Torodd WIgum, conductor, shares a smile with Jon Lord between two numbers.
A beautiful moment captured between two numbers at the rehearsals. Conductor Torodd Wigum and Jon Lord sharing a smile over some comment I’ve forgotten. Some of the orchestra members are seen joining in, too.
From people who were closer to the process leading up to the concert than me, I’ve been told that there was much admiration and respect between the orchestra and the composer – from both sides – as well an overall highly joyfull spirit.
And yes – those of you who have liked and follow this blog’s Facebook page, might recognize this photo as the header photo. Now you get to see the whole photo.
All Material: © Copyright Trond J. Strøm. All Rights Reserved.
No usage without my written consent. Links to the blog and blogs posts on social media etc are of course OK, but stealing the photos without permission is not.