Composer Steve Hackman has become famous for his orchestral compositions that blend contemporary bands’ music with the symphonies of classical composers.

An amazing process of analysis, discovery, de- and re-construction, and re-creation led to this program, a synthesis of the Brahms First Symphony (1882) and Radiohead’s OK Computer (1997). All four movements of the Brahms are eight songs from the Radiohead album are featured. The envelope of what is possible and permissible is constantly pushed, with Radiohead songs being superimposed above Brahms’ music, Radiohead’s melodies being altered to coexist with Brahms’ harmonies, the motives of one interjected into the other, and departures from the score left and right to accommodate journeys into a new compelling and captivating world that is at once both musics. Three vocalists sing the melodies of the Radiohead, both in solo and harmony.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RcBje6II6M&w=640&h=360]

You can also hear Steve Hackman’s symphonic mash-up of Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony (‘Eroica’) and Coldplay.