Jonny Greenwood

In times past, most film composers were classically trained folks who learned their craft scoring for the concert stage, radio, or TV. Today, it is become more common for film composers to have been from a rock band or involved in some other kind of pop music. While the contributions of composers like Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Trevor Rabin (Yes), and Paul Haslinger (Tangerine Dream) have been questionable, there are also composers like Alan Silvestri (Wayne Cochran and the C.C. Riders), Michael Kamen (orchestral arranger for bands like Pink Floyd), and James Newton Howard (arranger and keyboardist for Elton John) who have written music as good as the best of their contemporaries. Indeed, former Oingo Boingo songwriter/guitarist/lead singer Danny Elfman may be the most prominent and accomplished composer in this category. However, with the exception of Reznor, most of these composers were either in bands with a smaller following or they played a more behind-the-scenes role. Jonny Greenwood of the well-known and successful band Radiohead is an exception. And unlike Reznor, he has quickly become one of the most interesting new voices in film scoring.

Greenwood is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of Radiohead, and his aggressive method of guitar playing has apparently been quite influential. He grew up playing the viola, and also plays Elmer Bernstein's favorite instrument, the ondes Martenot (roughly a keyboard version of the theremin). Along with various pop influences, Greenwood is also fond of famed composer Krzysztof Penderecki, and in fact released a CD containing Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima and Polymorphia with Greenwood's own compositions Popcorn Superhet Receiver and 48 Responses to Polymorphia. Greenwood's first score was for a film called Bodysong, and he was subsequently asked to become the BBC Concert Orchestra's composer in residence in 2004. He composed the aforementioned Popcorn Superhet Receiver and included fragments of it in his breakout score for Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood. Greenwood's string-heavy, complex score features interesting chord clusters, rhythms, and tones passing by each other. He has also written scores for Norwegian Wood, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and Anderson's The Master. Norwegian Wood features a blend of austere and heartfelt writing that contains some of the most touching violin writing since James Newton Howard's The Village. Greenwood seems to choose projects that fit his distinctive style, and I look forward to more of his music, whether he continues to write for film or not.

The Master
Norwegian Wood
Phantom Thread
There Will Be Blood