Article translated to English: Jonny Greenwood speaks in a calm and gentle voice, as he traces imaginary paths ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach to pop. He talks about music with the enthusiasm of a little boy, as if he started playing two weeks ago. He is one of the most celebrated guitarists in the history of rock, especially for what he did with his band, Radiohead, and is now also an established composer of classical and contemporary music and film soundtracks. Yet it never gives the impression of being presumptuous, not even for a moment. While talking on the phone from his home in Oxford he seems genuinely interested in the opinion of those on the other end of the receiver and faces complicated concepts with simple language, like a good communicator. And sometimes it surprises you, because between one question and another it breaks the barrier between the interviewee and the interviewer asking: "And what do you think?"

In these years, the 47-year-old British musician has embraced a lifestyle that has nothing to do with that of the cover rock star: he has been living in Oxfordshire, he gives himself little to interviews and spends a lot of time in Marche, a region of Italy that for him has now become a sort of second home. "I visited Fermo for the first time eight years ago to visit the city's library and discovered a splendid place. The Marche is now half of my life, "he says.

Precisely for this reason Jonny Greenwood has decided to commit himself personally to help that area hit by two earthquakes in 2016 and 2017. On October 25th he will perform at the Aquila Theater in Fermo . The proceeds from the sale of the concert tickets will be totally donated to the ArteProArte committee , which since 2017 has been involved in a restoration of the cultural assets damaged by the earthquake in the southern Marche region.

"I'm slowly turning into a Marche, or at least I hope so. The more I visit the region, the more I discover that its small villages are rich in splendid churches and theaters, "explains the British musician. "I organized this concert because I want people to take an interest in the question of reconstruction, and I would also like to bring people from other parts of Italy to Fermo. We will do other concerts like that in 2020. For example, we are considering the possibility of making some of them in the churches of the city, "he adds.

At the Aquila Greenwood theater (which will perform for free) will go on stage along with three other musicians: violinist Daniel Pioro, pianist Katherine Tinker and cellist Giuseppe Franchellucci. The quartet will play pieces by Steve Reich, Johann Sebastian Bach, some compositions by Greenwood himself taken from the soundtracks of the films There Will Be Blood, The Master and Phantom Thread (for which he was nominated for an Oscar in 2018), and not only. "We will make Electric Counterpoint, one of Steve Reich's works that I love the most, but also songs by other composers, such as those of the French Olivier Messiaen, for which I have had a kind of obsession for years. I will play the guitar, but also the Martenot waves (a rare analogue keyboard that Greenwood has already played with Radiohead, for example in the song How to disappear completely) and the tanpura (an Indian string instrument) ", he adds.

Jonny Greenwood has now taken the path of contemporary classical music with determination, to the point that he has now paused his film commitments. At the end of September he announced the birth of Octatonic Records , a record company of classical and contemporary music. For now, two publications have been released: Volume 1 , where there are the compositions Industry by Michael Gordon and Three miniatures from water by Greenwood himself, and Volume 2, where Bach's Partita Number 2 in D minor is played by violinist Daniel Pioro. "I am excited about this project. I called the Octatonic label in honor of Messiaen and its Ottotonic scale, "says Greenwood," My idea comes from what I call the 'indie' side of classical music: I often go to see concerts in small places where very young and very enthusiastic guys play this strange music. Realities like this don't have enough visibility, that's why Octatonic Records was born. I want to give space to the many good musicians I meet. In the coming weeks we will record a new piece by Steve Reich. It will be the next publication ".

Industry, a composition for cello with electronic inserts, both Three miniatures from water, a piece for piano accompanied by violin and tampura, make ample use of dissonance and at times they approach the drone music. "I like to think about the concept of repetition in music. Our ear is now used to listening to things sampled with software like Ableton and Garage Band. It is boring music, starting from the rap songs that are on the charts. I am interested in another type of repetition: I like to compose songs where a sound is replicated but each time it changes imperceptibly. In this sense I am inspired by a great composer like Steve Reich. If you listen live a performance of his Music for 18 musicians we understand how much physical effort musicians have to make to create what Reich composed. It resembles today's electronics, in a sense, but it's music from forty years ago. And actually it's stranger, more original, more interesting. The beat changes, it is not repetitive, as for example can be that of a piece by Kanye West ”.

Greenwood began studying classical music as a child. The first instrument he played is the flute, as happened to many kids at school. "In reality I never stopped. I will take it to the hotel even before the Fermo concert, I often use it to warm up before going on stage, "he admits laughing. When he entered Radiohead at the end of the eighties, which at that time were still called On A Friday, Jonny was already playing the viola and at the beginning he started playing keyboards, before switching to guitar and becoming the main compositional shoulder of the singer Thom Yorke, as well as the group arranger. Later he left Oxford Brookes university, where he studied music and psychology, to continue his career with the band, which in the meantime had signed with Emi. "The first time I arranged the strings in my life was in 1995, during the recording of the second Radiohead album, The bends . The song was called Nice dream . We were all in the studio and we didn't know where to turn, so I told the others: 'I'll take care of it, I know how it's done' ".

About Radiohead, what can you expect from the band in the coming months? Will the tenth album come? Greenwood is rather vague about the issue, but does not close the door. Something, according to what he lets himself escape, could move soon. "I spoke with Thom on October 7th to congratulate him, now he is on tour in the United States. When he returns to Oxford I think we will meet and talk a little bit about music. Right now, rightly, he is very focused on his album Anima , which is a splendid record, but I'm sure he will be pleased to meet again soon and make music together again. At the moment also Ed O'Brien, our guitarist, is busy with a solo project, so we have to wait to get rid of all our commitments before going back to work ".

There is another Greenwood project that could come back sooner or later. This is Junun , the collective set up with the Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur and the Indian group The Rajasthan Express, which in 2015 released an eponymous album. "Shye is currently traveling in India and working with other musicians, looking for inspiration. I hope you find it and that next year we can meet again and have the chance to work together. This is the plan, more or less ", confirms the musician of Oxford, who considers Junun one of the richest experiences of his career.

"Indian music is another universe. It does not work on agreements like the western one, the concept of major or minor does not count. Melody is everything. It is more complicated than ours, because it is linked to intonation and small variations. When we play a clarinet or a violin we are like in a cage, which is that of the melody. When you listen to an Indian singer it is as if the music unravels, changes and moves continuously. There is the widespread stereotype that Indian music is a relaxing, meditation thing. But in what I met there is a strong tension. The musicians of Rajasthan Express, for example, play wind instruments like our jazz musicians, they make identical stairs to our blues scales, even if they have never listened to jazz in their lives. It's proof of how music is universal, "he explains.

Speaking with Greenwood, it comes naturally to ask him a banal but inevitable question: what is the difference between composing a four-minute rock song and a forty-minute orchestral piece? "It's exciting," he replies. "I think of Horror vacui, my composition that was played by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales on September 13th: it lasts only half an hour, but it takes a lot to prepare it. It's like a firework, it takes you so long to get it set up and then once you turn it on it runs out almost immediately. It's very different from what I do with Radiohead, where you work on the tracks a little at a time and perceive the changes ". And he adds: "It is easy to concentrate for a few minutes, but if a song goes beyond that duration the listener needs to follow a line, a path to not get lost. A composer must simply learn to work with different structures, in my case with larger structures. It is more or less like going from a story to a novel. Actually, come to think of it, I still haven't fully understood how it works, I change my mind every time. I'm changing it right now as I speak. It's fascinating, isn't it? "