Tag / Jon Lord

by trondjs

8. Take Two

Jon Lord reaching out for the score on the grand piano. Behind the Hammond organ, bassist Martín Méndez and drummer Martin Axenrot from Opeth are visible.

Jon Lord, Martin Mendez, Martin Axenrot

Jon Lord by the grand piano, reaching out for the score. Behind the Hammond organ, bassist Martin Mendez and drummer Martin Axenrot from Opeth are visible.

Jon Lord reaching out for the score on the grand piano. Behind the Hammond organ, bassist Martín Méndez and drummer Martin Axenrot from Opeth are visible.

They’re getting ready to launch into “Bourée” again, this time with sound on Magnus’ keyboards.

A Swedish Anecdote

Since this is a photo of Jon Lord with two Swedes, I guess this is as good as place as any for a little anecdote from Sweden.

In the Summer of 1996, Deep Purple were touring Europe on the back of their strong first album with Steve Morse on guitar, “Purpendicular“. I’d seen them in London in March the same year, great concerts. Then a weird Summer tour of Sweden was announced. Ten dates in all, scattered all over the long country. As it turned out, the Swedish Summer of 1996 turned out to be one of the colder Summers – Pär Holmgren, metheorologist, if you’re reading this I’m sure you can supply weather statistics for 1996 in the comments field.

Anyway, some friends and me, basically the same guys who had travelled to London in March, decided to go to the concert in Smögen, on the Swedish west coast. Smögen is a pictureque, sleepy village, beautifully located on the coast, which comes alive during Summer time with lots of holiday guests.

But this day was cold and rainy. The temperature was around 10 Centigrades, there was light rain, and there were probably not much more than 1,000 people gathered on a football stadium basically in the middle of nowhere. There were posters at the site for the next concert there – Smokie. Enough said.

Deep Purple played a good set, conditions considered. But it was cold, raining, not all that many people, and I was standing a bit to the back on a football stadium. This was nothing like seeing them at the Brixton Academy a few months earlier.

Anyhow – we knew the band were staying at the Smögen Hafvsbad Hotel – I’m not sure there’s really any other places to stay. So we went there, and surely, the band came, and at least Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and Jon Lord stayed for a while in the hotel bar, having a drink and chatting with the likes of us.

I’d been in touch with them through what was then known as the “Deep Purple Homepage” (I think there was just a couple of thousand web servers in the world when we put it up in 1994, unless my memory is playing me tricks) and the Usenet newsgroup alt.music.deep-purple. So, talking with Jon (“My fingers felt like sausages”, he commented on playing in the cold weather), he suddenly lightens up, remembering I’m Norwegian: He wants to play some Grieg!

He says Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg’s “Wedding Day at Troldhaugen” was (one of) the first pieces his piano teacher in Leicester taught him, he wants to play it, and hey, there’s a grand piano here!

But dang. It’s locked.

So we head over to the young bartender and ask for the keys.

But – this being Sweden, he just says: “No. Sorry. Hotel regulations.” Norwegians have this impression of Swedes being overtly careful to follow all rules and regulations, so I’m not surprised. But several of us try to tell the young Swedish bartender that there’s a world famous keyboardist in front of him, who wants to play some classical music in his bar. But “No, sorry, it’s after midnight, we can’t do that, the guests will be upset”.

So I never got to hear Jon play “Wedding Day at Troldhaugen”. Until this day. Jon has written a tribute to Edvard Grieg (and to the Trondheim Soloists, who he’s worked with several times, and several members are in the orchestra this evening) which he’s called “For Example“. (E.G., get it?)

And at the very end of the piece, Jon has included a quote from “Wedding Day at Troldhaugen”. As a tribute to his old piano teacher, to Edvard Grieg, and to the Trondheim Soloists.

And so, 14 years after the rule abiding bartender in Smögen, I finally got to hear Jon Lord play a little “Wedding Day at Troldhaugen”.

“For Example” from the concert in Trondheim

 

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.

by trondjs

7. No Sound on the Keyboard!

Jon Lord gestures, conductor Torodd Wigum stands at the front, as the keyboard lacks sound during the rehearsal.

Jon Lord and the Lord Chamber Orchestra

Jon Lord by the grand piano, conductor Torodd Wigum to the right.

Jon Lord gestures from behind the grand piano. Conductor Torodd Wigum standing at the front of the stage, also looking to his right – at the sound mixer. They were playing “Bourée“, and Magnus Johansen’s keyboards (he’s hidden behind the grand piano in this photo), which was supposed to carry the main theme, had no sound. Jon is telling the sound mixer in no uncertain terms.

Martin Axenrot at the drums at the back, we also see 1. violinists Sveinung Lillebjerka and Åse Våg Aaknes.

(Thanks to Christer Lorichs for a reminder of what was going on here!)

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.

by trondjs

6. Playing “Bourée” (Outtake)

Jon Lord with his gaze fixed on the score during “Bourée”, a great number from his much loved “Sarabande” album. Martin Mendez and Martin Axenrot in the background.

Jon Lord, Martin Mendez, Martin Axenrot

Jon Lord at the grand piano with Martin Mendez and Martin Axenrot visible in the background.

Jon Lord with his eyes fixed on the score during the song “Bourée” – a number from Jon Lord’s 1976 solo album “Sarabande“, an album which is held in very high regard among his fans. There were two songs from the album played during this concert.

Martin Mendez – who is closely watching Jon – and Martin Axenrot from Opeth are visible in the background.

“Sarabande” was a fusion of orchestral music with the added “oomph” of rock musicians – including Andy Summers, later in The Police, on lead guitar, Mark Nauseef on percussion and Pete York on drums. Inspired amongst others by Bartók’s “Romanian Dances” and by Bach’s keyboard suites, the music is a playful mix of symphonic melody lines, often heavily saturated by Eastern European influences, and the rhythmic gusto of the electrically amplified musicians. In many ways, the album can be seen as the culmination of Jon’s attempts at joining the orchestra and the rock band starting with the “Concerto for Group and Orchestra” in 1969.

I was very pleased to get the chance to hear this song played live two times that day, both in rehearsal and during the concert – where there were very audible excited shouting from some of the audience after this performance.

(This photo didn’t make it to the printed book, but is shared here for the enjoyment of the blog’s readers and viewers.)

Further reading:

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.

by trondjs

3. The Musicians (Outtake)

The musicians who formed the Lord Chamber Orchestra for the occcassion listed by name.

Jon Lord and the Lord Chamber Orchestra

Jon Lord by the grand piano on the left. Musicians from the Lord Chamber Orchestra on the stage.

The musicians in the orchestra deserve to be mentioned by name.

The great musicians who formed The Lord Chamber Orchestra for this concert, assembled by conductor Torodd Wigum, were:

1. Violin:

  • Sveinung Lillebjerka
  • Åse Våg Aaknes
  • Kristin Reigstad
  • Cathrine Egeriis Søndberg
  • Ellen Fjærvoll Samdal

2. Violin:

  • Marit Laugen
  • Ingvild Ranum
  • Ingrid Wisur
  • Alva Press

Viola:

  • Bergmund Skaslien
  • Eigil Nordstrøm
  • Ragnar Heier Hovd

Cello:

  • Cecilie Koch
  • Marit Aspås
  • Siri Snortheim

Double Bass:

  • Rolf Hoff Baltzersen

Flute:

  • Trine Knutsen

Horn:

  • Inger Jacobsen

(Quoting the “Credits” section of the website dedicated to the concert here.)

As this photo is quite similar to the previous one, it didn’t make the final cut in the printed book. I’m still glad to share it here on the blog.

 

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.

by trondjs

2. The Lord Chamber Orchestra

Who were the musicians behind the fabulous Lord Chamber Orchestra – not heard of before or since?

Jon Lord and the Lord Chamber Orchestra

Jon Lord and the Lord Chamber Orchestra

The orchestra was put together for the concert, and consisted of highly qualified musicians. Most of them from the Trondheim Soloists (Trondheimsolistene) and the Trondheim Symphonic Orchestra (Trondheim Symfoniorkester, TSO), as well as some very promising music students.

The Trondheim Soloists should be well known to fans of Jon Lord. In 2003, they played on the same stage with Jon Lord on the concert which Jon later referred to as a “life changing experience”.  This concert was Jon Lord’s first big concert after he left Deep Purple to concentrate on his orchestral music in 2002. And it was the concert which gave him the confidence to really pursue this path further.

Hot on the heels of this concert, the Trondheim Soloists played on Jon Lord’s first solo album after leaving Deep Purple, “Beyond the Notes” from 2004. They also toured Europe with Jon in 2004/2005. One of the shows can be seen on the excellent “Beyond the Notes, Live” DVD.

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.

The book is out – head to the bookstore to order your copy. There is two sizes and two bindings for each size available, from the standard sized book with soft cover, to the lavish coffee table book on high-end photo paper.

by trondjs

1. Entering the Rehearsals

This blog is photographic documentation of the last rehearsals before Jon Lord’s concert in the Nidaros Cathedral, May 23. 2010. The photos will also be available as a photo book.

Jon Lord grand piano

Jon Lord by the grand piano

This blog is my photo documentary from the rehearsals to what would sadly be Jon Lord’s last concert in Nidarosdomen – the Nidaros Cathedral – the mighty cathedral with historic roots back to the viking ages in Trondheim in Norway.
This is intended as a tribute to the great composer and musician, most famous for being a founding member of the hard rock band Deep Purple in 1968, a band he enjoyed great successes with until he retired to pursue his own projects in 2002.

Jon Lord’s  first concert in the Nidaros Cathedral in 2003 was crucial in asserting Jon that he had made the right choice to leave Deep Purple and pursue a career creating orchestral music. In 2007, he played a second concert in the cathedral, performing a new work called “From Darkness to Light“ – an orchestral work which indeed was inspired by the previous concert in the Nidaros Cathedral, and the impact it had on Jon and his career.

By the time the concert documented here took place, on Sunday May 23rd 2010, Jon’s then current album, “To Notice Such Things“, had been given highly positive reviews in classical music magazines in his homeland UK, and two of his previous, recent albums were on lists of “the best by living classical composers” on British radio station Classic FM’s website.

My hope is that this blog will be joyful for the great musicians who made this a very special concert, and the large audience who were in attendance – as well as for friends and fans of Jon Lord and the great musical legacy he left us.

The details about the concert will be explained as the photos are posted – most likely at highly irregular intervals.
The photo above was the first one I took of Jon as I entered the rehearsals in the cathedral some hours before the concert itself.

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.

 

The book is out – head to the bookstore to order your copy. There is two sizes and two bindings for each size available, from the standard sized book with soft cover, to the lavish coffee table book on high-end photo paper.