美国国家公共电台 NPR Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood On The Music Of 'Phantom Thread'
时间:2018-12-17 作者:英语课 分类:2018年NPR美国国家公共电台2月
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Lots of kids dream of growing up to be rock stars, and the British musician Jonny Greenwood was no different.
JONNY GREENWOOD: I was obsessed 1 with bands and would always listen to my favorite records with the goal of wondering - how do they do that, how do you write that kind of music? - more than, how do you play guitar solos? It was all about how you arrange music.
MARTIN: Well, he learned how to do both. Today he is lead guitarist and the guy who writes most of the arrangements for one of rock's biggest bands Radiohead.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AIRBAG")
RADIOHEAD: (Singing) In the next world war, in a jackknifed juggernaut.
MARTIN: They've been going strong since the '90s. And on the side, Greenwood has been steadily 2 carving 3 out another niche 4 for himself as a composer. His latest film score, "Phantom 5 Thread," is up for an Oscar next Sunday. It's a far cry from Radiohead.
(SOUNDBITE OF JONNY GREENWOOD'S "PHANTOM THREAD III")
MARTIN: When we spoke 6, I asked him about his other passion as a kid, classical music.
What was your gateway 7 into that world?
GREENWOOD: It was probably playing the recorder.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
GREENWOOD: Yeah, I know. It's something you're meant to play when you're 7 and stop playing very quickly.
MARTIN: I shouldn't snicker, but (laughter) that's not the answer...
GREENWOOD: Well, yes.
MARTIN: ...I expected (laughter).
GREENWOOD: Yeah, you see, instead of, you know, hanging out in pool halls and going out drinking and stuff, I ended up playing recorder really seriously well into my teen - in fact, I still play the recorder.
MARTIN: Do you?
GREENWOOD: So - sure. I just kept playing it and was lucky enough to be in recorder groups. In fact, I've joined one recently in Oxford 8, and we've got our first practice next week.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
GREENWOOD: I'm pretty excited.
(SOUNDBITE OF JONNY GREENWOOD'S "PHANTOM THREAD II")
MARTIN: Let's talk about this film, "Phantom Thread," and how this project took shape. Paul Thomas Anderson, the director - you've had a relationship with him for a long time. You've worked with him before. What ingredients does he give you? Do you watch the whole thing without music? How does it work?
GREENWOOD: It's a slow process of teasing in a way. He'll send me clues of what he's about to do or currently writing. And then it's script and then bits of footage. And it's a real dialogue. He'll have ideas, and we'll talk each other out of each other's ideas until...
MARTIN: (Laughter).
GREENWOOD: ...We get some kind of consensus 9. And then, yeah - then I start sending him recordings 11 of piano music.
MARTIN: The film was set in 1950s London. How did you think about the place in conjunction with the sound?
GREENWOOD: Yeah, it's strange because lots of British music in the '50s is quite twee.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
GREENWOOD: And if there's anything this film isn't - or at least for the lead character, Reynolds Woodcock, is he's not twee in any way.
MARTIN: Right.
GREENWOOD: So instead, we started thinking about what music he would listen to. And that kind of led me to things that are a little more austere 12. And also, I'm a big fan of all of these really over-the-top baroque recordings from the era, where they didn't care at all about what was authentic 13. And so they would have enormous, romantic orchestras playing Bach and Vivaldi and stuff. And it sounds glorious. And it's not how they do it anymore.
(SOUNDBITE OF JONNY GREENWOOD'S "HOUSE OF WOODCOCK")
MARTIN: What was that push and pull like with Paul Thomas Anderson? How did he push you in directions that perhaps you didn't anticipate going?
GREENWOOD: Well, he kept asking for more and more romance and give me more strings 14. He even used the phrase, big-ass strings at one point.
MARTIN: Big-ass strings?
GREENWOOD: Yes, that's what he kept asking for.
MARTIN: That's the technical...
GREENWOOD: 'Cause - yeah.
MARTIN: ...Music term.
GREENWOOD: I just put that in Italian and wrote it at the start of every score.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE JONNY GREENWOOD'S "HOUSE OF WOODCOCK")
MARTIN: There's the strings.
GREENWOOD: Yes, you see.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
This is a piece of music that comes and goes. It's like this leitmotif throughout the film. Was that an assignment that he gave you - I need one piece of music that I can put into all kinds of places?
GREENWOOD: OK. So what happened is I sent him an iPhone recording 10 of me playing that on the piano. And he just looped it and put it throughout the film, to the point it was driving everybody crazy. And he said, can you make this longer and arrange it for strings? And so - well, that's the weird 15 thing about recording string orchestras for film music is you do all this preparation for months and months and months. And then you just have four hours to actually record it and hear the real thing. So until then, no one really knows...
MARTIN: Right.
GREENWOOD: ...You know, if it's going to come off the paper and turn into music. So a really exciting day.
MARTIN: There's a scene when Daniel Day-Lewis - his character is ill. And he starts...
GREENWOOD: Right.
MARTIN: ...Seeing this vision of his mother. Let's listen to this moment.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PHANTOM THREAD")
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS: (As Reynolds Woodcock) I miss you.
(SOUNDBITE OF JONNY GREENWOOD'S "NEVER CURSED")
DAY-LEWIS: (As Reynolds Woodcock) I think about you all the time.
(SOUNDBITE OF JONNY GREENWOOD'S "NEVER CURSED")
DAY-LEWIS: (As Reynolds Woodcock) I hear your voice say my name when I dream.
MARTIN: It's a beautiful scene. And those high notes are so interesting. What do you hear in that when you hear that married with the dialogue?
GREENWOOD: Well, that was written around the sound of the viola playing in its highest register. And there's just something about the sound of the viola hitting those high notes. You can hear the player, who was amazing, struggling slightly. And that's a really nice human emotion to hear in music.
MARTIN: Did you direct her to do that - or it was just something in how she performed in that moment?
GREENWOOD: She gave me a very level look when she saw the part - saw how high the notes were.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
GREENWOOD: So I couldn't look her in the eye. It was a bit awkward.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
GREENWOOD: But yeah.
MARTIN: You just leave the score and walk out of the room (laughter).
GREENWOOD: Yeah. It is a little bit like that quite often. But classical players are so polite, though. These people have no ego 16. It's unbelievable. I'm very happy in their company.
MARTIN: Speaking of company, what are you most looking forward to about your new recorder group?
GREENWOOD: This is a very good question. Well, I'm wondering what the other players are going to be like, what we're going to do...
MARTIN: Are you nervous?
GREENWOOD: Well, I'm going to be playing treble, so that's in the middle of the register. I'm hoping that's going to hide any bum 17 notes that come out. But as long as I've warmed it up and everything - funny, I have to drive there with the recorder tucked under my arm just to warm it up so - it makes it less squeaky, as I'm sure you know. I'm sure you...
MARTIN: Yeah, I definitely know that.
GREENWOOD: Sure.
MARTIN: Do they know that you're Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, Or they're just, like, that's the guy who plays treble?
GREENWOOD: It's a different world. Well, it's - don't knock the recorder. It's a great instrument. I mean, I can hear it.
MARTIN: I'm not knocking it.
GREENWOOD: You're knocking it.
MARTIN: I am not knocking it (laughter).
GREENWOOD: In fact, there's an amazing recorder show that I always go to whenever in Chicago. It's like a pilgrimage. I go every time. So I know that recorders are big in America, too. Pretty sure.
MARTIN: Maybe bigger after this conversation. Maybe bigger.
GREENWOOD: Maybe.
MARTIN: Jonny, it has been so fun. Thank you so much for making the time.
GREENWOOD: Thank you very much, Rachel.
(SOUNDBITE OF JONNY GREENWOOD COMPOSITION)
MARTIN: Composer Jonny Greenwood. His score for "Phantom Thread" has been nominated for an Oscar.
- He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
- The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。
- The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
- Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。
- All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
- He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。
- Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
- The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。
- I found myself staring at her as if she were a phantom.我发现自己瞪大眼睛看着她,好像她是一个幽灵。
- He is only a phantom of a king.他只是有名无实的国王。
- They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
- The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
- Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
- A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。
- At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
- This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。
- Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗?
- What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么?
- How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间?
- I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
- a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
- old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐
- His way of life is rather austere.他的生活方式相当简朴。
- The room was furnished in austere style.这间屋子的陈设都很简单朴素。
- This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
- Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。
- He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上,随意地拨着吉他的弦。
- She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
- From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来,他好像有点怪。
- His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。