Like his Radiohead bandmate Jonny Greenwood, Thom Yorke has been tempted into the more refined world of contemporary classical music.
Following his acclaimed soundtrack for the horror movie Suspiria, Yorke has collaborated with French pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque on a piece co-commissioned by four European concert halls. While the programme notes made clear that Yorke wouldn’t appear in the first half, no one lingered at the bar — the Labèque sisters were a big draw in their own right.
They were accompanied by David Chalmin and The National’s Bryce Dessner, whose dual guitars initially made an odd pairing with the siblings’ Steinways that only a late-night Radio 3 listener could love. But the quartet soon settled into a surprisingly accessible performance of light and shade, during which the pair playing propulsive chords on their grand pianos tended to out-rock the scratchy, sinuous guitars.
The Labèques tackled Yorke’s composition Don’t Fear The Light during the second half, though it was a performance undercut by Chalmin almost tripping over onstage and a barrage of audience coughing at the most delicate point.
The Radiohead frontman finally made an appearance to awkwardly accept the audience’s applause and sing on a couple of songs.
Gawpers, a new one, featured a humming synth and Yorke’s otherworldly, wailing vocal. For Radiohead fans, it was a welcome return to something resembling normality, though it lacked the band’s churning grooves.
Yorke was on vocals for barely 15 minutes, though he made the most of it with a shadowy encore of Suspirium, the standout song from his soundtrack. With the Labèques accompanying him on piano, it was a genuinely spellbinding finale.
At times, though, Yorke’s dream house felt more barren than minimalist. At least with the sisters’ support he was never entirely out of his depth.
