Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead is in the studio with renowned composer Krzysztof Penderecki. Last week the two got together in Alvernia Studios in Wroclaw, Poland to start work on the album which is promised to feature many of the compositions played at the European Culture Congress this past year.
The album began its creation after the European Culture Congress when both Jonny Greenwood and Aphex Twin performed versions of Krzysztof Penderecki’s original compositions. Penderecki and Greenwood began work on the new album only shortly after the Sacrum Profanum Festival, which also garnered them the producer of the album, Filip Berkowicz, who is also the the Artistic Director of the aforementioned festival.
Although Greenwood is known for his affiliation with Radiohead, he is a classically trained guitarist, which makes this collaboration with Penderecki seem like a natural progression for his career. He has also worked extensively as a composer. He has written original scores for the films Bodysong, There Will Be Blood and Norwegian Wood, and served as composer-in-residence for the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Penderecki is widely regarded as one of the most important composers of the last 100 years, having earned huge acclaim for his Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (1960), Polymorphia (1961) (covered by Greenwood) and St. Luke Passion (1968). However, due to popular culture he’s probably best known for having several of his pieces used to profoundly chilling effect in the soundtracks of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and William Friedkin’s The Exorcist.
Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat
Source Credit: Pitchfork.com
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