Concerto for Group and Orchestra

The Concerto for Group and Orchestra was played once, on 24 September 1969 at the Royal Albert Hall, by Deep Purple and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Malcolm Arnold, who had to face down an orchestra unwilling to take the project seriously. Lord had written it in a few months at the request of the band's management; the three movements set the group against the orchestra as opposing forces rather than blending them. The full score was then lost. It was reconstructed from tapes and surviving parts by the Dutch musicologist Marco de Goeij and performed again in 1999.