Christopher O'Riley reached the white-collar crowd the way Elliott Smith and Radiohead usually capture the T-shirts and ripped jeans bunch during his performance in the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theatre on Nov. 19. Indeed, O'Riley did so by playing classical arrangements of these alternative artists' music.
The program was sponsored by the Washington Performing Arts Society and consisted of two parts, entitled "Home to Oblivion: An Elliott Smith Tribute by Christopher O'Riley" and "True Love Waits: Christopher O'Riley plays Radiohead."
The unusual makeup of the audience was obvious from the theater door. Comprised of families, college students, young professionals and the elderly, few audiences draw from such a wide fan base. Jeans and T-shirts were as prominent as evening wear in the theater, and by a show of hands, more listeners hadn't heard of Elliott Smith than had.
Therein, however, lies the beauty of what O'Riley does. He reaches a different crowd with transcriptions of the same music. People who would never choose to listen to Smith or Radiohead fall in love with their music in its classical form.
As O'Riley began the show with Elliott Smith's "Coast to Coast," "Let's Get Lost" and "I Didn't Understand," the lush sound of the Steinway contrasted sharply with the bareness of Smith's usual arrangements. This is probably the greatest flaw in the decision to transcribe Smith's music to classical piano - its beauty is often its simplicity, which is occasionally lost in the process.
O'Riley manages, however, to dynamically reveal the hidden sophistication of Smith's arrangements, lauding what he said was his "favorite American songwriter."
The trouble is that this sophistication sometimes gives way to a much more refined, less tumultuous picture of the artist he so greatly admires, at the same time removing some of the charm. A great deal is lost in the absence of Smith's lyrics, since they are his greatest strength as a songwriter.
"Cupid's Trick" was the highlight of the first half of the show, touting the clearest dynamic contrast and musical intensity. The quickness of the notes and the animation of the pianist as his hands danced and jumped over the keys brought life to the song, and the audience erupted into applause following the piece.
During "Stupidity Tries," the song preceding intermission, it seemed as if O'Riley was losing his tempo as he abruptly and unnaturally sped up and slowed down. He interestingly chose to highlight chords in the piece that are downplayed in Smith's version of the song, but unfortunately the feeling of the piece was disrupted by its awkwardness.
After intermission, O'Riley continued his program with his transcriptions of Radiohead songs. The fullness of Radiohead music seemed to better lend itself to the classical style O'Riley molded it into.
The Radiohead portion of the concert also seemed to be better received by the audience than the first half, though that could be due in part to the greater degree of familiarity with the band's music than the deceased Smith's.
The "unsentimentally titled," as O'Riley put it, "Airbag" filled the theater with its stunning contrasts of darkness and light portrayed through the piece's dynamics and use of both low bass notes and a high treble vamp.
The lighting, important throughout the show, became integral at this point in the concert as O'Riley played his beautiful, swaying, oceanic rendition of "No Surprises." The range of emotion conveyed throughout his Radiohead set was impressive, though not necessarily the same range of emotion conveyed through the artists' original works.
The night concluded with O'Riley's encore, "You" by Radiohead.
"The only pop song I know in the time signature of 23/8," O'Riley said.
His encore was the only song he played without sheet music in front of him, and the audience greeted it with a standing ovation. All in all, it was one of the more successful and entertaining of the modern, eclectic performances from the Washington Performing Arts Society.
