Rock You Like A Harpsichord Trivia Quiz

Answer: Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

This album was a top 20 hit in Australia and USA on the Billboard 200 and contained all the hits that Kiss are known for, such as "Detroit Rock City" (1976), "Love Gun" (1977), "Beth" (1976) and "Rock and Roll All Nite" (1975).
The surprising part wasn't how well the music of Kiss melded with the Symphony Orchestra however, it was the sight of the whole orchestra, including conductor, David Campbell decked out in tuxedos and full Kiss face paint.
As guitarist Paul Stanley promised, "it's black tie and black leather."

Answer: European Festival Orchestra

The music of Yes lends itself well to an orchestral sound and they have something of a history for making the most of it. The 1970 album, "Time and a Word" featured contributions from The Royal College of Music and "Magnification" (2001) was recorded with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. The "Symphonic Live" (2002) album was recorded while the band were touring to support the "Magnification" (2001) album and while it found favour with Yes diehards and guitarist Steve Howe, it seems the mainstream record buying public weren't ready for the collaboration as the album didn't trouble any of the major charts.

Answer: Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra

The album, "The Wall: Live in Berlin" (1990) was Waters solo version of the classic Pink Floyd album from 1979 and along with Bryan Adams, The Band and the Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra also featured the 100-piece Soviet Army marching band.
Not only that but in a real who's who of celeb-ness, The Scorpions, Cyndi Lauper, Sinead O'Connor, Joni Mitchell, Jerry Hall, Tim Curry and Van Morrison all guested as well.
Unsurprisingly, given the popularity of the original album, this star studded cast and the fact that the Berlin Wall had come down the previous year, this was a hugely successful recording, making the top 20 in the album charts in Australia, Canada, France and Germany.

Answer: Royal Montreal Philharmonic

This album was recorded at the Olympic Stadium, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, a venue which didn't really lend itself to the intricacies of orchestral music, which may have been one of the reasons it didn't sell as well as perhaps it should have.
It features ELP arrangements of Prokofiev and Mussorgsky as well as original tracks such as "C'est La Vie" and "Tiger in a Spotlight" (both 1977) and Keith Emerson's "Piano Concerto No. 1" (1977) which was originally performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
The tour on which this album was recorded was to promote the band's 1977 albums "Works Volume 1" and "Works Volume 2", and unfortunately not all gigs saw ELP and orchestra, as the orchestra cost an estimated $250,000 a week, and was let go after 15 shows before they caused the tour to become bankrupt.

Answer: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

This album was probably one of the first well known collaborations between a rock band and an orchestra, paving the way for many of the examples found in this quiz.
The orchestra were conducted by Malcolm Arnold and the as indicated by the title, the album consisted of a concerto for group and orchestra which was written by Jon Lord and Ian Gillan and saw the band working perfectly with their more staid counterparts as well as showcasing the incredible musicianship of all involved.
This was however only a part of the event at which the album was recorded and in 2002, the album was re-released, this time featuring Deep Purple tracks, "Hush" (1968), "Wring That Neck" (1968) and "Child In Time" (1970).

Answer: San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Metallica write some powerful, compelling songs but these are elevated to a new level when accompanied by the sweeping power of a full orchestra as illustrated so well on this album.
The orchestra was conducted by the great and much missed Michael Kamen and the album consisted of a full programme of Metallica classics such as "Master of Puppets" (1986), "Nothing Else Matters" (1992), "One" (1988) and of course "Enter Sandman" (1991).
The album was a commercial success around the world, loved by fans and critics alike and in 2020, the band and orchestra rekindled their partnership with "S&M2" which along with Metallica tracks also featured collaborations on music from Prokofiev and Mosolov.

Answer: Budapest Film Orchestra

Not only did this ambitious album, based on Milton's poem, "Paradise Lost" (1667) feature the one hundred and one-piece Budapest Film Orchestra it also had the 40 strong Budapest Film Choir on it.
As far as symphonic black metal albums go, this one is highly regarded and attracted much praise from metal reviewers, but alas, even though this was Cradle of Filth's first album on a major record label (Sony), it failed to set the charts alight, although it was quite successful in Germany and Finland.

Answer: Czech Philharmonic

"Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in E Flat Minor Op.1" (1998) to give the album its full title was a top ten hit for Malmsteen in Japan where he has a huge following and a minor hit elsewhere.
Where this perhaps differs from the other albums in this quiz, is in the fact this album has not tried to be a rock/orchestral meld, it is instead, as Malmsteen says, orchestral music which just happens to use the electric guitar as its solo instrument.
Although the album can sound somewhat sterile in places, I would urge anyone interested to take a look at the video release of the album. This came out in in 2002, has a much better energy to it and features the New Japan Philharmonic in place of the Czech Philharmonic.

Answer: London Philharmonic Orchestra

Nightwish are probably the most successful Finnish band ever, and this album was, at the time, the most expensive ever made by a Finnish artist. Good thing it went on to sell in huge quantities, hitting number one in many countries and spawning three hit singles. Unfortunately this was also their last album with classically trained soprano, Tarja Turunen on vocal duties.
The band had used flutes and cellos to enhance their sound since their second album, "Oceanborn" (1998) and first used a full orchestra on 2002s "Century Child" which featured the Joensuu City Orchestra and St. Thomas Chorus of Helsinki.
"Once" (2004) was their big orchestral statement though and this has continued with the London Philharmonic Orchestra appearing on the follow up albums, "Dark Passion Play" (2007) and "Imaginaerum" (2011).

Answer: Berliner Philharmoniker

"Rock You Like A Hurricane" (1984) was retitled "Hurricane 2000" for this reimagining of the track with the orchestra and Christian Kolonovits conducting. The rest of the album features re-arrangements of well known Scorpions tracks such as "Big City Nights" (1984) and "Wind of Change" (1990) as well as an instrumental cover of "Moscow Nights" (1956) originally by Russian composer Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi.
The album sold incredibly well in Portugal as well as in the band's native Germany but didn't fare so well elsewhere.