Jonny Greenwood on ACO

Jonny Greenwood and Richard Tognetti, the violinist who leads the Australian Chamber Orchestra, introduce Water, the piece Greenwood has written for the orchestra. He had heard of them from London reviews, and when a Radiohead tour finished in Australia they asked him to write for them and take up a residency. Workshop time with an orchestra is rare for a composer, Tognetti says; usually the players have to learn a new piece with no time to spare. “It could be months of work and then it's all over in an afternoon,” says Greenwood, who this time could hear things, cut them and get it right.

Water is built round the tanpura, an Indian drone instrument, whose sound reminded Greenwood of a couplet in a Philip Larkin poem about light held up in a glass of water. Tognetti is glad Greenwood left electronics out. Putting ideas on paper for players to bring to life is a long way from Radiohead, Greenwood says, which is “all about recording and repetition and things being pinned down”. With an orchestra each performance can be different. “You can't pin it down.”