Deep Purple: Concerto for Group and Orchestra

DEEP PURPLE In Concert with The Royal Philharmonic is a piece of rock history. Within a few months of this Sept. 24, 1969 performance, the group was to release the seminal hard rock album, DEEP PURPLE IN ROCK. The Concerto was their manager's idea of getting them some publicity, but it wasn't simply hype.

Keyboard player Jon Lord had kicked around the idea of bringing rock and classical music together for several years. Given the green light, he managed to compose and score the finished work in a matter of months, despite Deep Purple's punishing touring commitments.

In it he explored both the negative and positive aspects of such a fusion. The result was a fascinating evening for the band, the orchestra and the audience. Their reaction was immediate and positive, as the standing ovation at the end demonstrated. Although the critics treated it with "long faced seriousness," for everyone else it had been a hugely enjoyable and entertaining experience.

The event was captured on film, and the resulting footage is now available once again on video -- together with a little additional material discovered during the search for the masters.