At his home in Krakow, Poland, the venerable 79-year-old avant-garde composer Krzysztof Penderecki has a custom built garden maze – a place to wander and wonder the world’s strange twists and turns.
Last year, an amazing new musical path opened up for Penderecki, as long-time fan Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood reached out to him. An unlikely acolyte, the 40-something musical dynamo from the mega-star English rock band is also a composer, multi-instrumentalist and currently ranked 48th on Rolling Stone’s list of greatest guitarists of all time.
According to an article in the Guardian last month, Greenwood has long been drawn to the intricacy and innovation in Penderecki’s music – particularly pieces composed in the '50s and ’60s that worked orchestral scores into tingling sonic stratospheres where cryptic meets cerebral – a world of shimmering landscapes, angry bees and wails of despair. It sent some audience members shrieking from the concert halls.
Not Greenwood.
The artist has written two works in response to Penderecki’s music. One of them is Popcorn Superhet Receiver:
That piece was Greenwood's reaction to Penderecki’s Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima:
Greenwood is also releasing 48 Responses to Polymorphia – a remix of Penderecki’s Polymorphia. You can hear Greenwood’s take on Penderecki’s music on NPR’s blog All Songs Considered.
This month, both of Greenwood’s new works are to be released on a CD, alongside the works by Penderecki that inspired them. Called Krzysztof Penderecki, Jonny Greenwood Collaboration, the album is slated for release on March 13. The pair will also appear in concert at the Barbican in London, England, on March 22 to celebrate the launch and the fruits of their new friendship.
Perhaps the world is ready for Pendereckihead.
Radiohead has just announced two upcoming concert dates in Canada. They'll be at the Bell Centre in Montreal on June 15, and at Toronto's Downsview Park on June 16.
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