Concerto for Group and Orchestra

Concerto for Group and Orchestra was composed by Jon Lord with lyrics by Ian Gillan, and performed on 24 September 1969 by Deep Purple and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Malcolm Arnold. It was the first album with Gillan and Roger Glover, and the last Deep Purple record distributed in the United States by Tetragrammaton. The evening also gave the London premiere of Arnold's Symphony No. 6. The piece has three movements, with Gillan singing in the second and a drum solo from Ian Paice in the third.

The album was released in December 1969 in the United States and in January 1970 in Britain on Harvest, and the BBC showed the concert on television on 4 April 1970. It is regarded as the first time a major rock band recorded a live album with a full orchestra. Ritchie Blackmore resented the novelty and said in 1970 that the band were going to make a rock and roll LP. Arnold, for his part, praised the band's tremendous musical integrity.

The score was lost in 1970 after a second performance at the Hollywood Bowl on 25 August. Lord recreated it with help from Paul Mann, and the work was played again at the Royal Albert Hall on 25 and 26 September 1999 with the London Symphony Orchestra, then toured in 2000 and 2001. A studio version with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic was released in October 2012, and Lord heard the final master a few days before he died on 16 July 2012. Hush, Wring That Neck and Child in Time, played at the original concert, were added to a 2002 reissue.