Radio Rewrite

Radio Rewrite has five movements, alternating fast and slow, and is scored for clarinet, flute, two violins, viola, cello, two vibraphones, two pianos and electric bass.

Attention focused on the Radiohead material; some reviewers praised how completely the work is integrated, while others questioned how suited it was for Reich.

[9][12][13] Reich's compositions have frequently been referenced in popular music across many different genres, and his influence is apparent as an inspiration to works by Aphex Twin, Björk, David Bowie, Tyondai Braxton, Bryce Dessner, Brian Eno, Mike Oldfield, the Orb, Talking Heads, Tortoise and U2, among others.

[9] Reich observed that the word "everything" is sung to tonic–dominant–tonic, echoing, probably unconsciously, the dominant–tonic chords that form the end of everything in classical music ... it's perfect, it is everything.

"[9] In 2011, Reich was already working on a joint ensemble commission from Alarm Will Sound and London Sinfonietta, which he had originally conceived as "a giant counterpoint piece" for 15 musicians doubled against an equal number of recordings.

[9][20] The piece failed to come together, and Reich decided to use material in the two Radiohead songs that he found "exhilarating, energizing" to reinvigorate the project.

[9][20] He neither sampled the Radiohead tracks nor wrote variations on them; rather, working entirely from the sheet music, he based his composition on their underlying harmonies and incorporated short fragments of the melody.

In the slow second movement, Reich deliberately shuffled the chord progression from "Everything in Its Right Place", which he describes as "powerful," in addition to transposing it in key, to avoid drawing too heavily on the song.

[7] Radio Rewrite is scored for clarinet, flute, two violins, viola, cello, two vibraphones, two pianos and electric bass guitar.

[29] Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood said in interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme: It's fantastic, and so exciting, I mean, I can recognise chord shapes and the cadences.

In the two slow movements, he revels in the dissonances thrown up by Everything in its Right Place, encouraging them to assume a Jewish cantor-like wail through woodwind colouring.

Dammann wrote that "the piece absorbs only a handful of gestures from the songs into an otherwise familiar compositional framework,"[25] and Battle considers the "much-hyped allusions are fleeting.

"[12] Helen Wallace of BBC Music Magazine wrote: "The hope was that the Radiohead elements would ignite something, or at least disturb something, in Reich's creative process that would inspire him.

She wrote that "after nearly 50 years of favouring the Early French polyphonists, modal jazz and African music as his influences, unmoved alike by disco, punk, techno, krautrock or Motown, Radiohead seems an odd place for him to start a relationship with pop: too thin, too drab, too short on ecstasy and heat.

[33] He was unconvinced by the work as a whole, writing that the slow sections showed "flashes of real beauty, over enjoyably dissonant chords, but as a whole isn't entirely satisfying.

The slow parts at times left a queasy impression – like someone painting a strange coloured rose on top of a Mondrian or a Bridget Riley.