On October 1st, The Highway Star conducted an interview with Paul Mann. Being the conductor of the 1999 Concerto For Group And Orchestra performance, and the subsequent DEEP PURPLE world tour, Paul became a close friend to late Deep Purple keyboardist, JON LORD.

In an excerpt from the interview, Paul Mann discusses recording with IRON MAIDEN frontman BRUCE DICKINSON:

"I was really impressed with Bruce both as a singer and as a person. I spent the day with him at Abbey Road and although Jon was there, he wasn’t well that day and he went off to rest at a certain point and left me to work with Bruce. Later in the day Jon re-emerged and we played him what we’d done.

We started out with me playing it on the piano while Bruce learned it and I straight away noticed how analytically and thoughtfully he was working. Every take he did, he listened to it and registered something and then went back down and tried something different or said: 'What is it about that? Why isn’t that working? Can you tell me something about that?' So there was a constant analysing going on and one of the things he said on that day was how much he was enjoying doing something so “musically pure”, just about making the best music rather than there being any other agenda to it.

When you hear him on the recording, that very last thing when he goes to the top of the register, on the very last phrase, he searched and searched and searched to find exactly the right shape for it. Somehow I wish I kept all takes so we could hear how he arrived at it. He did it so thoughtfully and with such artistry, he’s just a fascinating guy and was a perfect choice for this."

Read the complete interview with Paul Mann at The Highway Star.

Jon Lord's Concerto For Group And Orchestra was released by Eagle Rock Entertainment on September 25th. The album entered the Classical Album charts in several countries. In Belgium it entered at #15 and has since climbed to #3.

Other chart positions:

Germany: #37

Austria: #44

Lord assembled guest musicians such as Bruce Dickinson, JOE BONAMASSA (BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION) and Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse in the Abbey Road Studios, to work with his trusted partner, director Paul Mann, on the 2012 version of the legendary concert.

“Over these last years since leaving Deep Purple, I’ve played it over 30 times with different orchestras and conductors all over the world, and, of course, in 2000 I did it well over 30 times with Purple on the Concerto tour, so I’ve been honing the piece live on stage, and I’ve had the opportunity to change things in the score that weren’t sounding quite right. It is therefore a marvelous and exciting prospect to have the definitive recording of the definitive version of the score.” (Jon Lord May 2011)

On July 16, 2012, Jon Lord passed away in London at 71 years old. This album is a joyful testament of a great musician and fantastic man.

“His dignity and graciousness touched us all. His music was an inspiration and took us to places beyond our imagination… A truly great man. We humbly express our eternal love and great respect.” – Tribute from Deep Purple upon the passing of Jon Lord.

Jon Lord's Concerto For Group And Orchestra features the following tracklisting:

'Movement One'

'Movement Two'

'Movement Three'