Christopher O'Riley takes Radiohead's B-sides to the piano

Christopher O'Riley's Hold Me to This, his second album of Radiohead songs for solo piano, is out today on World Village, an imprint of Harmonia Mundi. Five of its 14 pieces are B-sides: “Talk Show Host”, “Polyethylene (Part 2)”, “How I Made My Millions”, “Cuttooth” and “Gagging Order”. No scores exist for any of this music, so O'Riley works out every part by ear. The longest piece, at just over seven minutes, is “Talk Show Host”.

O'Riley, who hosts From the Top, the Public Radio International show for young classical musicians, first recorded Radiohead on True Love Waits for Sony Classical in 2003. After it outsold all his earlier records in its first week, he promised a second volume.

Richard Storm gives the new one a B+ in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and rates the counterpoint of “How I Made My Millions” as worthy of John Adams.

Every arrangement from both albums is also going into print, as an LP-sized book sold through his website. Steve Byram, who designed the packaging of both discs, has made art for every page, and the preorder listing in February gave it 208 pages at about $60. I think it will be attractive as a work of art on its own.²

O'Riley calls his method covetous re-imagining¹, and says he is chasing the energy of a full rock band, the same pull that drove Liszt to put Beethoven's symphonies on the piano. In his recitals he pairs Radiohead with Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues. In Radiohead, each band member contributes one integral part of the puzzle in every song, which is a very contrapuntal way of making music.²

Hold Me to This