Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale

Gary Brooker's collaborations with Eberhard Schoener

From Eberhard Schoener: Grenzen gibt es nicht by Stefanie Schoener, Munich 2010

Kindly rendered into English for BtP by Peter Christian

Gary Brooker is astonished to re-encounter Eberhard Schoener, whom he has not seen for many, many years ... explanation in caption below

Since Eberhard’s versatility set him apart from other conductors, it was only a matter of time before Fritz Rau, Germany’s best-known concert promoter, came into contact with him. Rau appreciated outsiders, was at the centre of the German rock scene, knew Mick Jagger and Joan Baez, loved his artists, shouted when things didn’t work out, liked to talk a lot and was a good raconteur, seemed fatherly and wasn’t, took a relaxed tone with the press and even then demanded that rock concerts should be subsidised in the same way as classical opera productions.

In 1972, the Olympic year, Eberhard’s first encounter with rock musicians had been three years before. At that time, the group Deep Purple had given a concert in Munich and he had gone to such an event for the first time … because he had heard that Jon Lord had studied church music and mixed his compositions with elements of classical music. On stage he saw a long-haired guy whose fingers were full of heavy rings, mostly made of silver with shiny turquoise, who nevertheless played like the devil, pushing his Mellotron (which Eberhard later bought from him) back and forth and abusing his organ in a way that made Eberhard break out in a sweat. That really wasn’t the way to treat an instrument! He avoided all thoughts of Stradivarius, instead recalling images of Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire and listening carefully to the orderly chaos of Deep Purple.

Fritz Rau had a milder version of rock music to offer Eberhard: The British rock band Procol Harum, who had made recordings in Australia [sic] together with a classical orchestra, were again looking for an orchestra with conductors for their tour of Germany. Basically, this intermediate musical form was still foreign to Eberhard. It wasn’t really a fusion of rock and classical music, but the orchestra served more as a pure accompaniment for the rock musicians. However, Eberhard was of the opinion that rock musicians were much more contemporary than the usual avant-garde – apart from the American electronic musicians, of course.

He went to London to meet Gary Brooker, the singer and composer of most of Procol Harum’s songs. There he was greeted by a reserved, almost shy young man who had already written a worldwide hit with Whiter Shade of Pale and presented him with his scores. Eberhard was impressed by how perfectly this meeting had been arranged by the record company and management – after all, he was constantly working on projects that were not without their problems. Back in Munich, he accepted Rau’s offer. But there still had to be a piece of ‘Schoener’. He therefore suggested that the Tölzer Boys’ Choir perform Mozart’s Coronation Mass between the individual titles of the band, creating an alternating sequence. The Gloria should follow Grand Hotel by Procol Harum, the Agnus Dei after Whiter Shadc. Rau was skeptical: ‘It won’t work, you can’t do it, they’re rockers, not music lovers!’ Eberhard simply replied: ‘When a twelve-year-old boy sings the Agnus Dei with his pure voice, it takes everyone’s breath away!’ - and he was right.

The tour with this then-unusual concept was a great success. Eberhard got on particularly well with Gary, but the other band members also behaved amiably and professionally in his presence. Only, to his annoyance, they always asked in the evening: ‘Eberhard, aren’t you tired? Don’t you want to go to sleep?’ He didn’t understand that the musicians’ wild life began only after midnight – until he and the entire band were kicked out of the hotel in Vienna, even though he had already been asleep when they, stoned and drunk, took apart the furniture. Which they were somewhat obliged to do in order to cultivate the image of the wild guys.

This first encounter with rock musicians developed into a long artistic friendship between Eberhard and Gary. The latter was not only present at many classic rock nights in Munich, but also at the world’s first satellite concert in 1985 at the World Expo in Tsukuba. Both kept an eye on each other, and when they met, the old familiarity was immediately there, based on a mutual artistic understanding. (pages 93–94)

Eberhard Schoener and Gary Brooker embrace at the end of the former's touching and reverent tribute
to the latter in Freising, Germany, 2014, at GB's 69th birthday party which was organised by 'Beyond the Pale'.
We were luckily able to bring the two composers together as a complete surprise (on the British side!)

Pictures of the surprise meeting, which also show Mrs Schoener, author of the book, may be found here

For Trance-Formation, Eberhard again contacted the Tölzer Knabenchor, who had already accompanied him on the Procol Harum tour. (page 128)

Today, it is almost unimaginable how such a programme was prepared in 1980. A six-hour programme had to be put together with the low budget of 200,000 DM. For the first Classic Rock Night, Eberhard’s friend Gary Brooker from Procol Harum was to sing his biggest hit A Whiter Shade of Pale, Esther Ofarim was to perform Leonard Cohen’s classic Like a Bird on the Wire and Jon Anderson, ex-singer of the group Yes, was to introduce his new band. Andy Mackay, the saxophonist from Roxy Music, wanted to play his own composition and Mike Batt wanted to interrupt his two-year sailing trip especially for the concert. Peter Michael Hamel and Darryl Way, one of the founders of Curved Air, had also agreed to play.

In between the bands’ performances, Eberhard would conduct works by Sergei Prokofiev, Edward Elgar, Igor Stravinsky and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy as well as playing his own songs. The Pro-Musica Orchestra was to be made up of Munich orchestras and the Munich Choir Boys, as Eberhard wanted everything live – including the choir parts. The entire organisation was handled by the Eberhard Schoener production office, which consisted of Eberhard, Curtis Briggs and Irene Peters. (page 159)

The fourth Klassik Rock Night. Once again, an attractive programme had to be put together that fitted in with the times and could also cause a stir. After more than ten years since Eberhard had gone on tour with Procol Harum, the Tölz Boys’ Choir and Mozart’s Coronation Mass in 1972, the fusion of rock music and classical music had not yet progressed much further. Even pop musicians who were not part of the hard rock and punk scene, but whose songs and ballads were recorded with orchestral accompaniment, sometimes hesitated to appear together with black-jacketed musicians. And of course, renowned artists from the classical side were also supposed to perform at the Classic Rock Night. That was even more difficult. They feared being considered superficial. (page 171)

The concert was to take place on 20 August, the German Day at the World’s Fair. A day was dedicated to each country on which it wanted to present unusual performances and attract special attention. The theme of the fifth Classical Rock Night was to revolve around the concept of ‘encounter’: Not only classical performers and rock musicians were to meet, but also Japanese and European artists. The Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra was part of the programme, as was the Japanese electronic musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, who wrote the music for the 1983 film Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence and was the founder of the Yellow Magic Orchestra – a band that enjoyed cult status in Asia at the time – as well as traditional Osu wa Daiko drummers. Nina Hagen was also to sing songs by Brecht/Weill and her then successful version of George Bizet’s Carmen.

Nicolas Economou, a highly talented pianist who had recorded with Chick Corea, was also to play. Eberhard: ‘Although we both had difficulties with the conventional music scene and each respected the other’s work, we couldn’t find access to each other. Gary Brooker was there again, the man I could always rely on.’ (page 179)

Procol dates in 2014 | More pictures from this occasion