Christopher O'Riley Review

Recently Christopher O'Riley performed at The Egg in Albany where he performed both traditional classical music, and his rock "imaginations" like those on our "Out of My Hands" release. So today we would like to excerpt a review of that concert from the Times Union.

Pianist O'Riley has rocked covered
By Joseph Dalton

ALBANY -- Best known as the host of the radio program "From the Top," pianist Christopher O'Riley has a distinctive ringing sound at the keyboard and a knack for choosing repertoire that shows off his light, transparent touch. That he's become a specialist in making and playing transcriptions of alternative rock songs -- especially by the band Radiohead -- is really just an added cool factor. Like a dancer who ends up doing most of his own choreography, O'Riley knows his strengths so well that he may as well also be the one to set the notes.


This realization came about two-thirds of the way through his Sunday afternoon recital at The Egg in Albany when he played the "Ondine" movement from Ravel's "Gaspard de la Nuit." Its floating textures were given a shimmering, crystalline elegance -- and felt surprisingly similar to much of the other material on the program, whether it was by Nirvana, Pink Floyd or Tori Amos...To Continue Reading this Review, please visit the Times Union Website.

Christopher O'Riley talks about "Out of My Hands"

We wanted to share with you a great article/interview with Christopher O'Riley about our album "Out of My Hands" from Newcity Music. However, we will only be posting an excerpt here with a link to the entire article. So please make sure to read on!

Hand to Hand: Christopher O’Riley gives pop some class

By Tom Lynch

So rarely does a musician truly bridge a gap between two entirely disparate forms of music that it seems likely any success in that regard would be met with confusion and skepticism. Classical pianist Christopher O’Riley has been doing it for years; his arrangements of Radiohead songs—performed entirely on a piano—have filled not one, but two records thus far, and he has dabbled with other artists’ work as well.

Raised in Evanston, O’Riley got his start in jazz, and moved on to classical once studying at the New England Conservatory of Music. A virtuoso pianist, O’Riley also hosts NPR’s classical radio program “From the Top.” It was on this program that he started fooling around with his Radiohead covers, playing them as time-fillers during breaks as supplements to pieces by Rachmaninoff and Debussy.

Admittedly, when I received O’Riley’s first pop-music record, “True Love Waits: Christopher O’Riley Plays Radiohead” (Sony), back in 2003, I scoffed and mocked it with rock-fan vigor. “Cashing in,” I’m sure I thought. After a week of staring at it I gave it a spin, and was blown away by its power...Click to continue reading at music.newcity.com

Out of My Hands review

Check out this great review of Christopher O'Riley's release "Out of My Hands" from Michele Yamamoto in UnderTheRadar magazine's Fall 2009 issue:

Christopher O’Riley has been a public figure in the fusion (or confusion) of classical and popular styles of music. An able pianist, O’Riley has peformed eclectic programs, placing the impressionism of Debussy against the experimental folk of Nick Drake. He’s already released two albums adapting the music of Radiohead and one each that tackled Elliot Smith and Drake. Now, with this latest release, Out of My Hands, O’Riley presents his own arrangements of popular pieces from Cocteau Twins, Nirvana, Radiohead, The Smiths, Portishead, R.E.M. and more.

The first single off the album, a rendition of Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box,” opens up faithfully enough. A quiet reproduction of the melody is about as overtly faithful as it gets, but O’Riley manages to retain the anxiety of the original. Both in dynamic song structure and in the harmonies that result from intricate layering of music ideas, “Heart-Shaped Box” is every bit as aggressive as the original. And with the final unresolved chord, O’Riley even allows the harmony to ring out for about 45 seconds, enabling the sound mass to eventually take on the timbre of feedback.

With Elliott Smith’s “New Disaster,” the piano emphasized the sparkle of Smith’s upper guitar lines and spins it all like a Debussy-an quasi-tonality. Radiohead’s “All I Need” displaces lines from the bass-heavy song across the keyboard, creating an entirely different space with virtually the same notes. Of course, he never forsakes the harmonic or melodic structures.

In his adaptations, culled from the originals and onto a single instrument, O’Riley utilizes scores of techniques to produce original interpretations without sacrificing the core of the original songs.

What Others are saying about Fireside Christmas with Chanticleer

Today we wanted to share some customer reviews of our DVD release Fireside Christmas with Chanticleer!

From Amazon:

Just what I was looking for!
December 6, 2009
By "music giver"
I first saw this on the Today Show...I thought, something different! I spent two shopping trips looking for it.

SLOW DOWN..savor the holidays and begin your celebrations....
December 8, 2009
By LD Maestra
Beautiful music? Never out of style. Music by Chanticleer? Like fine wine. It just keeps getting better.
This essential choral collection forces you to savor the beauty of the holidays. Put your feet up, pour yourself a glass of your favorite something and prepare yourself for pure beauty in sound. Chanticleer would never attach themselves to anything banal and this album is no exception. These are holiday chestnuts --- but not "chestnuts roasting on an open fire." There are many beautiful moments here to be savored. In a sea of overdone holiday tunes, here is one that is worth adding to any holiday collection. Satisfying. Soulful. Chanticleer.

Fireside Christmas with Chanticleer
December 10, 2009
By D. Turner
The perfect thing for the Spare the Air days... a crackling fire to look at and the superb voices of Chanticleer. Lifts the spirits and warms the toes!

From Chanticleer.org:

By Martha Verso
I bought this as a gift for my mom & she loves it! If anything, Chanticleer makes the whole "cheesy-burning-log-thing" fantastically not cheesy.

Christopher O'Riley - New York Times review

Roll Over, Beethoven: Here’s Rock You’d Like

By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER
Published: August 25, 2009

Classical music fans who enjoy attending concerts away from the major halls have had an increasing number of options in recent years, including Brooklyn bars and the Greenwich Village club Le Poisson Rouge. The Highline Ballroom has also begun to program classical performers, like the pianist Jeremy Denk (who plays there on Saturday). On Monday at the ballroom, the pianist Christopher O’Riley celebrated the release of “Out of My Hands,” his latest CD of virtuoso arrangements of music by bands and singer-songwriters...Click to read the full review