Customer Reviews

Deep Purple - Concerto for Group and Orchestra (In Concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I bought this dvd I thought it was a complete concert.
Instead the whole dvd was only 52 min I have the concerto on cd
since 1998 when I Played this dvd they made cuts in the 1st movement and some of the drum solo in the 3rd movement There were NO CUTS in my cd. So this dvd is NOT 175 min as it says wait and hopefully there will be a reissue of the COMPLETE Concerto with no cuts and whatever there was with it. also I checked out the
newer cd version looked at some reviews and yep! there were cuts on that version will continue to listen to MY copy of the cd which is now out of print.

I was starting my radio broadcasting career back in 1969. I was still a teenager at the time and was not a classical music fan, yet! When I first heard the Concerto on vinyl for the first time, I knew I had to have it and I eventually bought the CD when it became available. When Deep Purple came out with the 1999 Concerto at the Royal Albert Hall, I was very excited. What a concert! Steve Morse does a remarquable job. And then, the big surprise. The original concert on DVD!!! Goodness, can this be? Yes it's true and it's good. The sound is awsome considering the whole thing was recorded back in 1969. I give it 4 stars out of 5 because of the camera shots. The switcher was not familiar with the music because when Ritchie plays solo, the camera stays too long on somebody else.
Still a must have.

Beautiful! THIS DVD release really made me do a 'double take'. For years & years of collecting LPs & older music on CDs I've SEEN the old "Concerto for Group & Orchestra" several times for [re]sale. I was SO surprised to find out that the "event" was even taped for TV!! I didn't even hesitate to get one! I just finished watching it tonight and I can't believe what I just saw. Ok, the "experimental approach" to Jon & Malcolm's performance isn't for the 'masses', but I would LOVE to read a review of THIS show by one of the 'thousands of people' who was THERE [in Albert Hall] that evening! I like D.P., right along side many other great bands that came out of the UK [circa 60s & 70s] which was STILL in MY opinion 'their BEST time'!
I don't care if this show HAS been 'shortened' for DVD [I don't think the other reviewer got his facts straight actually -- "175 minutes"?? THAT'S ACTUALLY 2 hours & 55 minutes man! C'mon!!] "52 minutes" for THIS SHOW sounds more "realistic". THe original LP release was the same! [Most LPs could only FIT around 20 minutes per side -- if anyone remembers LPs -- heh heh] Anyway, again, it's SO NICE to see these "original vintage" performances re-issued for today's viewing!

The new EMI DVD is the third video release of the 1969 Concert film. Sadly it doesn't contain any more footage than either of its predecessors, but it is certainly worth buying again.

The Concerto was originally filmed by British Lion Films, and edited down to a 52 minute programme eventually broadcast by BBC2 in April 1970 as "The Best Of Both Worlds". This DVD is not taken from the 35mm film footage but is actually the edited television video master. Therefore it misses an orchestral chunk from the First Movement (just before Blackmore's guitar work out), and part of Paice's drum solo. The film masters (most probably complete) were unfortunately stored in colour separated reels, and as a consequence restoration was well beyond EMI's budget for the project. Still, let's look at what we have got..

Even though it's a little soft in places, the picture quality is actually very clear, a big improvement on the video tapes, though the format differences may account for a lot. What really hits you is the incredible sound quality, extremely sharp. For me it was like hearing and seeing the show for the first time, which is what I would want from any DVD of already familiar material. So rather than gathering snippets for a detailed review, I ended up just sitting back and becoming engrossed in the whole thing.

Having attended the 1999 Concerto, the differences between the two nights are striking. In 1969 the (mostly young) audience downstairs are standing, much as at Proms concerts, making for a very close atmosphere in the hall. The orchestra for the most part seem unimpressed by the view in front of them, both of the virtually unknown young band letting rip, and beyond them the tightly packed ranks of teenagers dancing to the rockier parts of the music.

The band themselves all play extremely well, and it's interesting to see just how integrated the two newcomers from Episode Six are. Personally I much prefer the band's contribution in the 1969 Concerto to the 1999 repeat, particularly the fabulous sound from Blackmore's Gibson. The supposedly duff performance of the orchestra has never bothered me, and still doesn't.

As already mentioned, the DVD contains the full "Best of Both World" TV broadcast, including a fascinating opening three minute introduction. (Not listed in the package... more about that later..) After the opening titles (drunkenly letracetted at some wacky angles) this shows clips of the afternoon rehearsals; conductor Malcolm Arnold chatting with Jon Lord, and Deep Purple running through 'Child In Time'. If only more existed. Sadly we don't get to see Deep Purple's 'More Shades..' Concerto support slot at all, it simply wasn't filmed.

As for extras, we get an audio commentary by Jon Lord, recorded in 2001. It's an interesting listen. The photos are ok, though I still don't really see any use for them.

Finally, the packaging. I quite like the acid mock poster cover, the front of the original programme reproduced for the internal leaflet, and the Harvest logo on the disc. Unfortunately attention to detail is lacking elsewhere, with Gillan's photo missing from said leaflet. Not good.

Niggles apart, I know I'll be playing this DVD more than I ever played the videos and previous audio releases; it has never looked or sounded better.

I had been searching for the CD version of the 1969 performance, but what I found instead was the DVD. I used to own it on vinyl in 1973, but it got stolen. This was very exciting to find and for the most part I am very pleased. But the video directing and editing was obviously done by people that had no foreknowledge of the piece nor the musicianship. Example: in the first movement, they skipped over an important part of the orchestra's perfomance. And during the guitar solo, the camera work focused not on the quickest guitar player ever, but rather on people on stage that weren't doing anything! If you've ever seen Blackmore live, you know what I'm talking about. So if anybody out there can find me an unchopped up version CD of this performance, please let me know.
I bought the 1999 version thru the mail thinking it was the 1969 version. It's O.K. but Steve Morse is not Blackmore.

[...]

Being an avid worshipper of Ritchie Blackmore's work, I enjoyed the album soon after it was released in 1970 and enjoyed the newly-released DVD even more. In addition to actually being able to see the performance, the sound quality on the DVD is much better, and the Extras contain a running commentary by Jon Lord, who composed the concerto. But it's not for everybody. Lord's attempt to integrate classical and heavy metal music doesn't always work. His composition tends to separate the orchestra's sections from those of the band; that is, the orchestra plays a section, then the band, and more often than not the transition between the two doesn't mesh well. In addition, the orchestra sections are too long, so Purple fans don't get to hear the band as much as they would like. It was, however, a worthy experiment, and Ritchie fans will love his extended solo in the first part of the concerto. According to Lord, Ritchie was supposed to play a short, two-minute solo, but he instead went way beyond that and played a solo that will knock your socks off. If you liked Ritchie's solo in Child in Time, you'll love this one. In fact, you'll probably notice some of the same licks, although this performance was recorded before In Rock. In sum, hardcore Purple fans will probably like this DVD because it affords a look at the band right before it recorded In Rock, its greatest album, but if you're one of those fans who think Smoke On The Water was their best song, you probably won't like it.

I highly recommend this dvd, warts and all, for the original Malcolm Arnold Royal Philharmonic Orchestra version.There is an innocence and freshness to this one that is missing from the 1999 spit-and-polished version (although I loooove Jon Lord's compositions on that one, as well as the Dio material). I really enjoy seeing Ritchie with his Gibson tearing up the fretboard. I also quite liked the bonus audio track with Jon Lord critiquing and commenting on the dvd; some funny and insightful stuff. Get this one a.s.a.p.!!!!!
Vince Palamara

As this was recorded in the early 70's before the technology existed to give the recording process a decent sound, Deep Purple married their heavy brand of Rock with the sound and talent of some of England's dominent Classical artists in The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The resulting performance was a ground breaking live record and video. I bought the vinyl of this around 1971, just recently I ran across a DVD performance of the same concert. It was quite thrilling to find these works in video format. I can see where a true critic could harp on the lack of recording quality, forgetting that digital recording was not even in it's infancy yet, and recording live rock and roll still had some bugs to work through. All that said this is a good performance, recorded as well as could be for that era.

I,ve had this concert on vynil for years and I,ve always wanted it on film and I was not disapointed it is brilliant.

First, I must confess I'm not a Deep Purple fan. However, when I first listened to "Third moment: Vivace Presto" on the radio around 1999, I was thrilled. So I got the recording, and I can truly say to you that this DVD has almost ELEVEN MINUTES CUT OFF the First Movement. This completely ruins the continuity of the music, in much the same way as Disney did with "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" on Fantasia.