Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” is heart-wrenching beautiful with Danish orchestra

Procol Harum joined the Danish National Concert Orchestra and Choir at Denmark’s Ledreborg Castle in August 2006 for a concert that included “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” Gary Brooker, the band’s frontman, had identified Suite No. 3 in D Major, composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, as an influence on the song. The collaboration therefore brought its acknowledged classical inspiration into a full orchestral presentation.

The band performed 15 numbers with the orchestra, and recordings from the concert subsequently appeared on a live album. On “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” the ensemble begins with a roughly 90-second orchestral introduction centered on the song’s melody. Brooker then leads Procol Harum into the performance. Although he was 61, his voice closely resembled his singing on the original 1967 recording.

The orchestra gives the arrangement additional depth, while the choir contributes its voices to the collaboration. The performance reached a large online audience, accumulating 99 million YouTube views. The concert also featured “A Salty Dog,” another notable part of the program, with the choir entering over its familiar piano introduction.

Viewers offered an enthusiastic response in the online comments. One described the concert rendition as the finest and most emotionally felt interpretation of the song. Another ranked the composition among the greatest ever written and argued that no other vocalist captured it as Brooker did.

Released on May 12, 1967, “A Whiter Shade of Pale” was a non-album single and became Procol Harum’s largest hit. It reached number one across numerous markets, among them the UK, Canada, France and Germany. Worldwide sales eventually amounted to 10 million copies, placing it among the best-selling singles in history. Its cryptic words also became closely associated with the 1967 Summer of Love.

Watch the full performance on page two