''To Notice Such Things'' is a studio album by former

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

keyboard player

Jon Lord John Douglas Lord (9 June 194116 July 2012) was an English orchestral and rock composer, pianist, and Hammond organ player known for his pioneering work in fusing rock with classical or baroque forms, especially with the British rock band Deep ...

, commissioned and premiered with the composer by Shipley Arts Festival ( Artistic Director Andrew Bernardi ) in 2009 and later released through Avie in 2010. It is titled after the main work, a six-movement suite for solo flute, piano and string orchestra, composed by Lord in memory of his close friend the late

Sir John Mortimer Sir John Clifford Mortimer (21 April 1923 – 16 January 2009) was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He is best known for novels about a barrister named Horace Rumpole. Early life Mortimer was born in Hampstead, London, ...

, CBE, QC. The music emanates from that which Lord composed for the stage show, Mortimer’s Miscellany, which he also occasionally accompanied. To Notice Such Things is the last line of the

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

poem "Afterwards", which ended the show. Jon says of the piece, "I wanted to give the flute the job of ''speaking'' for John throughout the Suite; his laughter and his sighs, his wistfulness and occasional mild cantankerousness, his playfulness, and also the anguish and then the acceptance of his final days."Press release
/ref> The flute solo in the recording of To Notice Such Things, is performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s principal flautist Cormac Henry, who throughout the work engages in dexterous musical dialogue with Lord’s solo piano. Jon Lord performed three movements from To Notice Such Things at Mortimer’s memorial service at Southwark Cathedral with Bernardi Music Group in November 2009, in front of an audience that included the Duchess of Cornwall, members of the Mortimer family, Lord Mandelson, Lord Kinnock, Jeremy Paxman, Alan Rickman, Peter O’Toole, Sir Tom Stoppard and Jeremy Irons, whose noble reading of "Afterwards" closes the recording of To Notice Such Things. To Notice Such Things has been performed live a few times, most notably on 16 June 2010 at Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Clark Rundell.

Track listing

# "As I Walked Out One Evening" (4:15) # "At Court" (5:33) # "Turville Heath" (3:01) # "The Stick Dance" (4:45) # "The Winter of a Dormouse" (5:33) # "Afterwards" (3:56) # "Evening Song" (8:16) # "For Example" (9:12) # "Air on the Blue String" (6:33) # "Afterwards" (Poem by

) (3:01) Tracks 1-6: To Notice Such Things - In memoriam of Sir John Mortimer, CBE, QC (1923–2009)
Track 7: Original vocal version appears on Jon Lord's Pictured Within album
Track 8: Dedicated to Øyvind Gimse and The

Trondheim Soloists Trondheim Soloists ( no, Trondheimsolistene) are a musical chamber ensemble of string players based in Trondheim, Norway. The ensemble was founded in 1988 and has been an arena for professional concert training for string-players at the Music Con ...

Track 9: Dedicated to Matthew Barley
Track 10: Read by

Jeremy Irons Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre ...

w/Jon Lord, piano
Total time: 54:25 Premiered and recorded live by Bernardi Music Group with the composer and flautist Bruce Martin on 5 July 2009 in Nuthurst. Later recorded by

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmon ...

, Clark Rundell (conductor), Cormac Henry (flute on tracks 1-6), Jon Lord (piano), Thelma Handy (leader). Recorded 30 September – 1 October 2009, The Friary, Liverpool. Producer: John Fraser. Engineer: Phil Hobbs.
Release date: 29 March 2010. Avie Records AV 2190

References

External links

Jon Lord's official website

To Notice Such Things on Jon Lord's official website
{{Authority control 2010 albums 2010 compositions Jon Lord albums