Earlier this week, Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood premiered his new composition Horror vacui at the BBC’s Prom 70. Greenwood composed the piece for solo violin and a 68-piece string section. Hugh Brunt conducted the debut, which was played by violinist Daniel Pioro, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and the BBC Proms Youth Ensemble. Hear the 27-minute Horror vacui at the BBC’s website. (It begins around the 1:03:31 mark.) The performance will be broadcast tomorrow night (September 13) at 6:10 p.m. Eastern on BBC Four.
Greenwood curated the bill and also played bass guitar and tanpura for Prom 70. The program began with a performance of 17th century composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber’s Passacaglia in G minor, followed by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki’s Sinfonietta for strings. After a brief break, the orchestra played Greenwood’s “Three Miniatures from Water” and “88 (No. 1),” as well as Steve Reich’s Pulse, before closing with Horror vacui.
Read about Jonny Greenwood’s filmwork in Pitchfork’s “The 50 Best Movie Scores of All Time.”