Jonny Greenwood's “Water” is out on vinyl, backed with Mozart

The Australian Chamber Orchestra released Jonny Greenwood's “Water” on vinyl on 10 November, on ABC Classics, with Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik on the other side. We have chosen an outrageous combination of works that you would never consider pairing unless it were on an LP³, Richard Tognetti, the orchestra's artistic director, told The Vinyl Factory. The cover is a photograph by Bill Henson, who works with the orchestra.

It is the first recording of “Water”, made live at the Sydney Opera House in 2014 with Tognetti leading. The piece runs about 15 minutes in one continuous movement, for strings, flutes, keyboard, piano and two Indian tanpuras.

The orchestra commissioned it. Greenwood was its composer in residence in 2012 and workshopped the piece at its Sydney studio after Radiohead's Australian tour that year. The orchestra gave the world premiere at the National Concert Hall in Dublin on 2 October 2014, and played it at the Southbank Centre in London two days later before an Australian tour. Its title and starting point come from the closing lines of Philip Larkin's poem “Water”.

Water by Jonny Greenwood, Australian Chamber Orchestra and Richard Tognetti, live at the Sydney Opera House in 2014, from the 2017 LP· Australian Chamber Orchestra - Topicwatch on youtube →