Tag / Magnus Johansen

by trondjs

42. A Break

Jon Lord by the grand piano as the rehearsal for “The Sun Will Shine Again” is over.

42. Jon Lord during a break between songs

Jon Lord by the grand piano. Martín Méndez and Magnus Johansen is glimpsed leaving the stage, as the next song is acoustic.

Jon Lord by the grand piano as the rehearsal for “The Sun Will Shine Again” is over. At the back we glimpse Martín Méndez and Magnus Johansen leaving the stage – the next song is fully acoustic.

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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.

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

35. Jon Lord – with Magnus Johansen

35. Jon Lord with Magnus Johansen

35. Jon Lord by the Hammond organ with keyboardist Magnus Johansen and the “Children in Time” choir in the background

Jon Lord plays the Hammond organ during “Child in Time”. Keyboardist Magnus Johansen watches him in the background. The choir is also visible. The “Children in Time” choir was gathered for the concert and conducted by Elen Cath Furunes.

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

25. Jon Lord and the Children in Time

Jon Lord with the “Children in Time” choir in the background.

Jon Lord with the "Children in Time" choir

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.

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

19. Pictured Within

Jon Lord with the sheet music for “Pictured Within” in front of him. Keyboardist Magnus Johansen in the background.

Jon Lord, Magnus Johansen

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.”

(Read the full text here.)

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.

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

17. A Different Viewpoint

Moving around to the back of the stage for a different viewpoint, on this photo we see Jon Lord, Magnus Johansen, Martín Méndez and Martin Axenrot from a new angle.

Jon Lord, Magnus Johansen, Martín Méndez, Martin Axenrot

Jon Lord, Magnus Johansen, Martín Méndez, Martin Axenrot seen from the back of the stage.

I was moving around to the back of the stage for a different view here. I think this was during the closing notes of “Gigue“, the wonderful track from Jon Lord’s “Sarabande“ album from 1976.

Photographically speaking, this is the contrast to photo 15 in this blog. This photo has the focus nailed on Jon himself at the other side of the stage. Taken at full aperture on the tele zoom I was using (f/2.8), the shallow depth of field is visible in that only Jon is truly sharp here. Bassist Martín Méndez is not quite focus, while Magnus Johansen on keyboards and drummer Martin Axenrot are slightly blurry. This adds to the feeling of depth and presence in the 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.

by trondjs

14. Violinists and Rockers

First violinists Sveinung Lillebjerka and Åse Våg Aaknes at the front, bass player Martín Méndez, drummer Martin Axenrot and keyboardist Magnus Johansen visible at the back.

Violinists and rockers

1. violinists Sveinung Lillebjerka and Åse Våg Aaknes at the front, bassist Martín Méndez, drummer Martin Axenrot and keyboardist Magnus Johansen at the back

First violinists Sveinung Lillebjerka and Åse Våg Aaknes at the front, bass player Martín Méndez, drummer Martin Axenrot and keyboardist Magnus Johansen visible at the back.

The latter three with their gaze fixed in the direction of Jon Lord.

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

4. Martin and Martin (and Magnus!)

Martin Mendez and Martin Axenrot from Opeth made up the rhythm section on some numbers. Here pictured with keyboardist Magnus Johansen.

Martin Axenrot, Martin Mendez, Magnus Johansen

Martin Axenrot (drums) and Martin Mendez (bass) from Opeth with Magnus Johansen on keyboards rehearsing before a concert with Jon Lord in the Nidaros Cathedral 2010

Quite a few of the pieces performed at the concert featured a rock band based rhythm section and modern keyboards in addition to the chamber orchestra and Jon Lord’s grand piano – and the occasional use of his trademark Hammond organ.
For this one concert, the rhythm section was a very special one: Bassist Martin Mendez and drummer Martin Axenrot from the Swedish prog-metal band Opeth – a band that is quite an institution by themselves by now. Indeed, I was told that several young girls were starstruck as they saw Martin Mendez relaxing outside the cathedral after one of the earlier rehearsals.

Fabulous musicians, both of them, they certainly helped assuring the classical/rock fusion numbers became really groovy.

Magnus Johansen on keyboards were added at the suggestion of Jon himself. Magnus is the son of Knut Morten Johansen, Joss amongst friends – the main man responsible for luring Jon Lord to play in Trondheim in the first place. Jon saw it fitting that Magnus got the chance to join him on stage for this concert. “I’ve known him since he was the size of my shoe”, he claimed during the concert.

I’m afraid I didn’t text my photos well enough back when I still remembered everything, so I’m not positively sure which number they were rehearsing here, but I think it was either “The Telemann Experiment“ or “Bourée“. Quite possibly the latter.

Photographically speaking, it’s quite amazing how Magnus’ face seems to peep out through a dent in the column in the old cathedral.

 

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.