Christopher O'Riley

Christopher O’Riley is a concert pianist. He also finds time to run “From the Top” which makes it seem cool to work hard and do well in music. The original idea for “From the Top” was to cross the genres of music beacaus as Mr. O’Riley puts it, “On too many radio stations, there’s this feeling that you’re listening to the Top 40 all the time”. “From the Top” is produced for public radio like the radio station 104.1 FM in Washington.

He believes that music should not be dumbed down as we may all find happening on the mass media radio stations. I know we’ve wailed on this subject here before. I believe radio does not reflect the true power and diversity of the world’s musical capability. Mr. O’Riley states, “That moment of discovery rarely arrives on the Internet because listeners have to know what they’re looking for: rather it is still radio that provides that introduction that can alter the course of a young life.”

On his show “From the Top” which blends music fun with serious music making, O’Riley has been know to slip in a transcription from one of his favorite music bands, Radiohead. I have to admit that Radiohead is beyond my comprehension but when O’Riley transcribes it, it is beauty to my ears. He actually has two albums out, “True Love Waits” and “Hold me to This” which are Radiohead played as classical piano pieces. My wife can hear the similarity between Radiohead and his transcriptions. But I sadly admit, that O’Rileys transcriptions sound nothing like Radiohead to me, even playing any selected song back to back with its double.

O’Riley’s biography boasts that , "True Love Waits" (Sony/Odyssey) received 4 stars from Rolling Stone and was as critically acclaimed as it was commercially successful. I have to agree with Rolling Stone. I like the transcriptions better than the originals.

Mr. O’Riley jokes that he thought Radiohead would put out a restraining order on him. But I think Radiohead helped produce his second album “Hold me to This” but I’m not sure so don’t hold me to this. And an amazing fact. O’Riley met his wife on a Radiohead message board!