Recorded at London's Royal Albert Hall in September 1969, it consists of a concerto composed by Jon Lord, with lyrics by Ian Gillan.

The first full length album to feature Gillan on vocals and Roger Glover on bass, it was released on vinyl in December 1969.

[citation needed] The original performance included three additional songs: "Hush", "Wring That Neck", and "Child in Time".

I didn't want to be involved with the concerto because of the novelty effect, and the press we were getting out of playing it at the Royal Albert Hall.

[4] The Concerto was first performed at the Albert Hall in London on 24 September 1969 with Deep Purple and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Arnold.

It was performed at second time at the Hollywood Bowl on 25 August 1970, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lawrence Foster, after which the score was lost.

In 2002 EMI released special edition DVD-A, SACD and two-CD sets of Concerto for Group and Orchestra, featuring the entire programme of music played that night.

[5] Performers were: The programme consisted of: A recording of the concert was released on a double CD as Live at the Royal Albert Hall.

[6][7] Also performed, were pieces from Jon Lord's solo career and a number of Deep Purple songs including an orchestral version of Child In Time.

According to Paul Mann, Jon Lord heard the final master of the recording a few days before his death on 16 July 2012.

In an interview for hospital radio in Huddersfield in 1970, shortly after the Royal Albert Hall performance, Arnold provided a positive take on the experience:[10] What strikes me about Deep Purple is their tremendous musical integrity.

That's why it started and ended very abruptly.The cover art of the Swedish heavy metal band Opeth's 2010 concert DVD In Live Concert at the Royal Albert Hall is intentionally similar in layout, colour and motive to that of Deep Purple's Concerto for Group and Orchestra, "underlining Opeth's longstanding love for their prog-rock roots".

[12] Vincent Budd, The Gemini Man: an Introduction to the Orchestral Works of Jon Lord, 2003, Gnosis Press