Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, Bach and the Wapping Hydraulic
It is a whopping great building, the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station. Once it provided the hydraulic power to all the key West End theatres. Last night it provided the all standing venue for a concert by the London Contemporary Orchestra.
Before the concert, I wondered how many people – indeed what sort of people – might be interested in attending such an event. At the gates, people were pouring in. There was a human traffic jam at the bar which remained open throughout the programme. Although once the music started I was one of the few who broke away to purchase a hot Drambuie toddy to combat the mildly daughty depot.
A small chamber group opened the proceedings in the smaller generating chamber. Contemporary, interspersed with with Bach and beyond. Then the audience of about 500, all standing, crammed through the narrow entrance into the main generating hall.
Looking around, men outnumbered women by two to one. I was quickly aware that my greying locks possibly belonged to the oldest man in the room. The spirit was electric and the focus settled on the amazing, and massively talented Jonny Greenwood – lead guitarist of Radiohead, player of virtually every instrument there is from the viola to the computer. But above all, last night he was Jonny Greenwood, contemporary classical composer. Some of the music flowed from the film, There Will We Blood, but most was new material.
Jonny Greenwood, above, lead guitarist with Radiohead, appeared alongside LCO soloists
Greenwood’s work is harmonic, sumptuous, and emotionally deeply moving. It demands extraordinary talent and skill from the London Contemporary Orchestra under its 27-year-old conductor, Hugh Brunt. Like the other players, he was informally dressed, in a blue cable stitch sweater. His conducting is graceful, and maintains an extraordinary discipline in the players. I would guess there were fully 500 people present; the atmosphere was absorbing, excited and hugely appreciative of the music.
Greenwood himself played several different instruments, depending on the piece. The climax was his guitar playing, most effectively in the final pieces – Future Markets, from There Will Be Blood, and Mate Kini Kura Ne from Norwegian Wood.
Bach’s Cello Suite No 5 in D minor rocked most of our socks off. As did a shatteringly exotic cello piece of enormous energy by Iannis Xenakis, performed by Oliver Coates.
Who’d have thought that such a concert would attract so many, performed by so young and talented a group of string players. But this is London, culture capital of the world.
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