Back by popular demand following a sold-out performance in 2019, don’t miss the return of conductor Steve Hackman’s epic symphonic synthesis, Brahms X Radiohead, featuring the full Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and three solo vocalists on Saturday 28 January at the Jack Singer Concert Hall. Presented in partnership with One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo, this fusion of Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 and Radiohead’s OK Computer offers a re-imagining of each work through the lens of the other, exploring the explosive tension they each have in common.
The two works share striking characteristics, the most significant being moods of brooding emotion. Brahms, plagued by the shadow of the great Ludwig van Beethoven, took more than a decade to write his First Symphony for fear of not living up to his predecessor, and that pressure is felt in each tightly-wound beat of the music. For Radiohead, the themes of social isolation, consumerism, and political turmoil are channeled electrically through every anxious note and lyric of OK Computer.
Conductor Steve Hackman is the mastermind behind Brahms X Radiohead, as well as other similar productions like Tchaikovsky X Drake and Beethoven X Coldplay, and describes the work as, “a process of analysis, discovery, deconstruction, and creation.” The piece stays in the romantic sound world of Brahms, using only the instruments he would have used to debut his symphony, but woven in, superimposed, and inserted are the music of Radiohead. At times, the melodies and words of Radiohead are suspended over Brahms’ original music, and elsewhere, the Orchestra plays the music of Radiohead with the dense harmonies of Brahms.
“I’ve always pursued both classical music and popular music in parallel,” says Steve Hackman about the inspiration behind this project. “It was always in my mind that it would be wonderful to find a way to combine these, and bring the audience together to show the similarities in the music and celebrate what this music has in common, and not to try to criticize one or the other based on some sort of categorical label.”
Steve feels that seeing Brahms X Radiohead live is an exceptional and life-changing experience any classical or popular music lover won’t want to miss. “First of all, just to hear a virtuosic group of musicians like the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra playing live in concert is an experience by itself,” he explains. “Then you go up a level, and take Brahms’ First Symphony, which is one of the greatest classical pieces ever written, and you combine it with Radiohead and the music of today.”
He continues. “You don’t have to like either classical music or popular music, it doesn’t have to be one or the other. There isn’t a more essential time than right now for us to experience live music and to disconnect for 60 minutes, to follow a musical narrative, to open our minds, our body, and our soul, and let ourselves be moved or taken somewhere.”
On January 28 at the Jack Singer Concert Hall, hear the stark opening motives of the symphony adding to the frenzy of Paranoid Android, the lyrics of No Surprises floating over the gorgeous conclusion of the second movement, themes of the third movement evoked in the distance during the experimental Let Down, and the energy of the final movement providing the rhythmic motor of Electioneering. Every combination is explored, and constantly moves from one to the other — but the piece is seamless and you will find yourself wondering how the combination was even possible!
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit artscommons.ca.
