Jon Lord in St. Petersburg, October 2009. Photo: Elena Blednykh
In this part of JonLord.org’s new year interview, Jon Lord takes stock on 2009.
Last year took Jon Lord out on the road around the world and into the recording studio. He composed and recorded an album of new music (read previous articles – links below), performed 20 solo concerts and appeared at a handful of special guest appearances.
From Edinburgh and Dublin to more remote stages in South Korea, Brazil and Russia (to name but a few) – Jon Lord performed in countries he’s never before visited as a solo artist.
Jon Lord photographed during rehearsals in Yekaterinburg, Russia, October 2009.
All photos by Ilya Galkov, clarinetist with the local orchestra. He writes about the experience:
- It was great, one of my best stage experiences ever. From the very first moment Jon entered our rehearsal hall there was a continuous drive from his energy. I couldn’t understand how some of the orchestra musicians could sit still – my body just moved to the beat by itself. I liked very much how open Jon and band and singers are, says Ilya Galkov.
German RBB Fernsehen reports from Jon Lord’s open rehearsal in Potsdam on January 23. Click the photo to watch.
In their review of the concert (and the rehearsal), Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten notes how ‘the “Concerto for Group and Orchestra” is a milestone in pop history.
The paper reports that Jon Lord only interrupted the dress rehearsal twice to offer determined but friendly musical advice. It also observes how the Concerto in 1969 was ‘more a test of strength between serious and popular music. Today, the generation gap does not matter anymore.’
Read the story behind Jon Lord’s upcoming new album, To Notice Such Things, out on March 29, 2010.
The album is dedicated to the memory of his late friend Sir John Mortimer and contains a six piece suite for solo flute, piano and string orchestra as well as three other compositions for the same forces.
This is part 1 of a brand new interview for JonLord.org where Jon Lord discusses the music on the new album, takes stock of a busy 2009 and looks at plans for the future.
We catch Jon Lord as he is checking the final mixes of the new album.
- The first movement is based on the opening music of the show that we used to do, and the first piece he used to read was a poem by W.H. Auden. I suppose it’s about the triumph of time. It starts out really brave and quite happy and it’s called As I Walked Out One Evening.
It ends in a more bleak manner by warning that ‘…you cannot conquer time.’
- The next piece is called At Court, and this is where I try to imagine John when he was in his glory in the late ‘60s, ‘70s, and the early ‘80s, when he was one of the great barristers of London. Read the rest of this entry »
Jon Lord’s concert in Potsdam (near Berlin) on January 23 has been sold out for months. If you didn’t get a ticket to the concert, you can watch Jon Lord prepare with the orchestra in the afternoon of the concert – at the same venue in Potsdam.
Jon Lord will release his next album, To Notice Such Things, on March 29, 2010 through Avie Records.
Titled after the main work – a six movement suite for solo flute, piano and string orchestra – the album was inspired by, and is dedicated to the memory of Jon’s dear friend Sir John Mortimer, the English barrister, dramatist, screenwriter, author and creator of Rumpole of The Bailey, who died in January of 2009.
- He was a great friend and a great inspiration to me and I hope my love and respect for him comes out in the music, says Jon.
Classic FM is collecting votes for its Hall Of Fame 2010.
Last year, Jon Lord’s Durham Concerto was the highest new entry in Classic FM’s Hall of Fame. It jumped in at no. 75 with Boom of the Tingling Strings reaching no. 198.
Vote for Jon Lord now You can help secure Jon Lord’s position in this year’s Classic FM Hall Of Fame by voting for him online. It’s free and takes only a few seconds.
