Beatles fans of the time never heard live performances of the increasingly complex music the band recorded during its middle and late periods. But you can - with all the brassy riffs and swooping strings heard on the recordings.
Classical Mystery Tour's four Beatles impersonators join the Utah Symphony July 26 at the Deer Valley Outdoor Amphitheatre to re-create an event that never happened, but should have: a concert of 30 Beatles hits performed exactly as they were recorded - with orchestra.
Jim Owens, who represents John Lennon in the show, said the songs were not altered to create the show - they were restored.
"Our whole idea behind making this show was to create a Beatles live concert backed by a symphony orchestra," Owens said. "But we didn't want to rearrange the songs. . . . We just selected the songs that used the orchestra."
A few early Beatles tunes had orchestral scores added for the movie "Hard Day's Night" by the group's classically trained producer, George Martin, Owens said. But it was Paul McCartney who originated a song backed by classical musicians. "Yesterday" featured McCartney's voice and a string quartet; Martin arranged the string parts under his direction.
From there, use of classical musicians expanded, Owens said. A double string quartet adds intensity to "Eleanor Rigby"; brass and winds were used in songs that followed.
"It took a while to get up to the full orchestra heard on the 'Sgt. Pepper' album," Owens said. "But once they got into it, there is so much orchestra used on songs through the years."
The members of the group were inspired by many musical genres, Owens said, including classical music. It was after attending a concert of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos that McCartney came up with the idea of adding piccolo trumpet fanfares to "Penny Lane."
Utah Symphony artistic administrator Jeff Bram recalls hearing associate principal trumpet Jeff Luke play the soaring trumpet licks when Classical Mystery Tour joined the orchestra at Abravanel Hall in 2005.
"[Luke's] colleagues got the biggest kick out of hearing him doing that," Bram remembered. "It's such a fun way to make a connection between their work and the world of popular music."
Bram also remembers the audience-pleasing CMT concert as one of the first times he saw symphonygoers wave lighted cell phones at the orchestra, as if at a rock concert.
Some orchestra pops concerts simply feature guest artists, without giving the orchestra much to do. That's not the case with the Classical Mystery Tour show, said Utah Symphony CEO Melia Tourangeau, who heard the group with the Grand Rapids Symphony.
Associate conductor David Cho, who will conduct the Deer Valley show, notes that the members of Classical Mystery Tour even resemble The Beatles. "Seeing four people acting like The Beatles, and sounding like their voices - I think it's just fantastic," Cho said.
That's a sticking point for Owens. His early attraction to The Beatles focused more on the guitar parts than the singing. So, when he began impersonating his idols, he chose George Harrison as his alter ego. It seems Mother Nature had other ideas.
"As I grew up, people kept telling me that I resembled John Lennon," Owens said. "I decided to give it a try."
That meant learning Lennon's mannerisms, speaking with his Liverpool accent and playing on a replica of his guitar.
"That's part of the whole illusion," Owens said. "We couldn't see The Beatles perform live, but we've created what it would be like."
I read the news today, oh boy
Utah Symphony's Deer Valley Music Festival presents Classical Mystery Tour, a re-creation of a live Beatles show, July 26 at the Deer Valley Outdoor Amphitheatre in Park City.
Tickets - Reserved seats are $60. Lawn seats are $30; $12 for students. Lawn seats for families are $85. Call 801-355-ARTS or visit www. deervalleymusicfestival.org.
