Ritchie Blackmore: In His Own Words – Episode Five
For Episode Five of Ritchie Blackmore: In His Own Words, the conversation moves away from the recent Deep Purple reunion and into an area that has shaped Ritchie’s music for most of his life: classical and Renaissance music.
Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord both brought classical influences into Deep Purple, although they often approached them from very different directions.
Lord’s musical vocabulary frequently drew upon the English classical tradition, while Ritchie’s playing has long revealed his fascination with Bach, Beethoven and the music of the Renaissance.
So I wanted to know whether those influences had changed over the years.
Does Ritchie still listen to the same composers? Has his musical world expanded as he has grown older? And when he listens for pleasure today, does he even reach for the guitar?
His answer takes us from Bach and Beethoven to 16th-century instruments, American bluegrass guitarist Trey Hensley and an obscure Christmas record that Ritchie loves so much he listens to it in the middle of summer.
Phil Aston:
I want to bring Jon Lord into this now, because I imagine he would have been looking down on the Deep Purple reunion and smiling from ear to ear like everybody else.
You and Jon both brought classical influences into rock and into Deep Purple, and those influences followed both of you throughout your respective careers, sometimes in different directions.
For you there was Bach and Beethoven, while Jon also drew heavily on composers such as Elgar and Vaughan Williams.
Do you still listen to much classical music now?
Has your love of classical music grown, and have the composers you listened to when you were younger expanded into other areas — perhaps English pastoral music or composers such as Vaughan Williams?
What do you listen to today?
Ritchie Blackmore:
No, my classical choice has not changed at all.
I’m a big Bach fanatic.
And I’m beginning to like Beethoven a little bit more than I did.
I suddenly realised that his compositions are so involved and so wonderful. I didn’t realise how good he was.
Obviously I knew he was a big name, but compared to Bach, I preferred the fugues and stuff like that.
Nothing has really changed.
As far as my musical outlet, I’m still obsessed with music from the 1500s, especially played by David Munrow, Tielman Susato, stuff like that — shawms, all the old instruments.
I’m more attracted to the woodwind instruments of the 1500s than I am the lute or the guitar, which is kind of strange.
But I’ve heard a lot of guitar players. I’ve heard a lot of guitar music and lute music.
So to me, I’d rather hear a nice bagpipe, parlour pipe or a nice flute playing than a guitarist.
Although there are some guitar players that I’m completely in awe of.
For instance, Trey Hensley is a wonderful guitar player — American.
And I listen quite often, especially at Christmas, to Milo Deering.
He plays every instrument there is. I think it’s violin, banjo, steel guitar, normal guitar.
He’s fantastic.
And I recommend anybody who wants to hear some great Christmas music played the way it should be played, without too much improvisation and keeping the tunes the way they should be, to listen to Down Home Christmas by Milo Deering.
I even play it in the middle of summer because I love it so much.
I first came across this musician with his friend. I think there were two of them playing.
He does a lot of stuff where he plays all the instruments.
I saw it on the TV and I didn’t know who it was.
I think Candice had one of those apps where you can hear the music and find out who the artist is.
Thank goodness, because they don’t play it anymore.
And it happened to be Milo Deering.
I love Christmas music, so to me it was a double whammy.
I thought his playing was wonderful, but it also suits the Christmas spirit.
I love all the Christmas songs.
Obviously I don’t like “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and rubbish like that.
I’m talking about the real old stuff — the old 1400s, 1500s and 1600s music.
And he plays it extremely well.
So I recommend anybody to get that record if they can find it.
It’s very difficult because, over here, anything that’s well played is kind of hidden.
So you have to search it out.
Bach Still Comes First
One of the clearest things to emerge from Ritchie’s answer is that his fundamental musical tastes have changed remarkably little.
Bach remains central.
Ritchie describes himself simply as:
“A big Bach fanatic.”
But there is also an interesting reassessment of Beethoven.
Ritchie says he has become more appreciative of the complexity and depth of Beethoven’s compositions as he has grown older.
That is perhaps revealing in itself.
This is not somebody whose musical curiosity has stopped.
The foundations may remain the same, but Ritchie is still listening, reassessing and discovering details in music he has known for decades.
David Munrow and the Music of the Renaissance
Ritchie’s reference to David Munrow is especially important.
Munrow was one of the central figures in the revival of interest in early music during the 1960s and 1970s through the Early Music Consort of London, and Ritchie has previously described hearing Munrow’s recordings around 1970–72 as a major turning point in his musical life. He has specifically cited the Renaissance dance music of Tielman Susato and the sound of shawms, sackbuts and crumhorns as having a profound effect on him.
That influence eventually became much more visible in Ritchie’s own music.
Long before Blackmore’s Night, Renaissance modes and melodic ideas were already beginning to surface in Deep Purple and Rainbow material, including songs such as “Temple of the King” and “Sixteenth Century Greensleeves”.
What is fascinating in this new interview is that Ritchie says the obsession remains.
He is still drawn to the music of the 15th and 16th centuries.
But perhaps surprisingly for one of the most influential guitarists in rock history, it is not necessarily the guitar or lute that attracts him most.
It is the woodwind instruments.
The shawms.
The pipes.
The flutes.
The older sounds that immediately evoke another musical world.
The Musicians Ritchie Blackmore Mentions
Johann Sebastian Bach
Still Ritchie’s great classical reference point.
The fugues and contrapuntal complexity of Bach have influenced Blackmore’s guitar vocabulary for decades.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ritchie says his appreciation of Beethoven has grown.
He now finds himself recognising just how involved and extraordinary the compositions are.
David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London
Munrow’s recordings of Medieval and Renaissance music were a formative influence on Ritchie.
Ritchie has previously recalled hearing Munrow and the Early Music Consort performing authentic early instruments and feeling immediately drawn to their organic sound.
Tielman Susato
A 16th-century composer and publisher from Antwerp whose music has been one of Ritchie’s long-standing Renaissance touchstones.
Ritchie has previously cited Susato’s Danserye as particularly influential, with melodic material associated with Susato subsequently finding its way into Blackmore’s Night.
Trey Hensley
Ritchie describes American guitarist Trey Hensley as a player he is “completely in awe of”.
Hensley is a Grammy-winning guitarist, singer and songwriter rooted in bluegrass, country and Americana. His official biography also notes that Ritchie Blackmore has publicly described him as one of his favourite guitar players.
Milo Deering
This was perhaps the most unexpected recommendation in the entire episode.
Milo Deering is a multi-instrumentalist known for guitar, fiddle, mandolin, dobro and steel guitar, and has released several Christmas collections.
Ritchie specifically recommends:
Down Home Christmas — Milo Deering & Skinny Williams
Released in 2012, Down Home Christmas contains 19 pieces including “Jingle Bells”, “O Holy Night”, “We Three Kings”, “What Child Is This”, “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “Ave Maria”.
Ritchie loves the album enough to play it even during the summer.
And that may be the best recommendation possible.
A Guitarist Who Sometimes Prefers Not to Hear Guitar
Perhaps the most revealing line in the whole episode is Ritchie admitting that he would often rather hear a woodwind instrument than another guitarist.
Coming from Ritchie Blackmore, that is fascinating.
But it also makes perfect sense.
He has spent a lifetime surrounded by guitars and guitar players.
What continues to excite him appears to be sound itself — particularly sounds that transport him somewhere else.
A shawm.
A flute.
Bagpipes.
The strange, earthy timbres of Renaissance instruments.
And that curiosity is arguably one of the threads connecting everything Ritchie has done.
From Deep Purple to Rainbow to Blackmore’s Night, the instrument may change, but the search for atmosphere, melody and musical colour remains.
Christmas Music in the Middle of Summer
And then there is Christmas.
Ritchie’s enthusiasm when discussing Milo Deering is infectious.
He does not simply mention the album.
He recommends it.
He explains how he discovered it.
He talks about Candice identifying the music for him.
And he admits he plays it in summer because he enjoys it so much.
That is exactly the sort of unexpected detail I hoped this series would uncover.
We started with a question about Bach, Beethoven and Jon Lord.
We ended with Ritchie Blackmore recommending a relatively obscure acoustic Christmas album.
And somehow that feels entirely appropriate.
Ritchie Blackmore: In His Own Words is an exclusive 13-part Now Spinning Magazine interview series.
Across the series, Ritchie talks to Phil Aston about Deep Purple, Rainbow, Blackmore’s Night, guitar playing, classical and Renaissance music, creativity, family and his life in music today.
Interview: Phil Aston / Now Spinning Magazine
Editor’s note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and readability while preserving Ritchie Blackmore’s wording, humour and intended meaning. Names and recording details referenced during the conversation have been checked independently for accuracy.
Phil Aston | Now Spinning Magazine
