Tori Amos’ “Night of Hunters”
May
- Artist: Tori Amos
- Album: Night of Hunters
- Label: Deutsche Grammophon
- Release Date: September 20, 2011
- Genre: Vocal
- Formats: CD, LP
This is Tori Amos’ first album recorded for Deutsche Grammophon; no one should expect a classical album here. The songs are written with a pop music sensibility. There are two real links to the classical world. First is the instrumentation. The conservatory-trained Amos plays her Bösendorfer piano beautifully, and is accompanied on most tracks by a string and wind octet that features Andreas Ottensamer, the principle clarinetist of the Berlin Philharmonic. Other accompaniment is provided by Apollon Musagète string quartet. The musicianship is pretty serious.
The second link to classical music is that all the songs are variations on, or inspired by, classical pieces. Listening to “Night Of Hunters” and the original sources of inspiration back to back shows all the originals are very recognizable, but all with a new take or twist that successfully builds on the source to make it distinctively Tori Amos. Inspiration runs the gamut from Bach to Satie; nicely done – the double LP is probably her finest sounding album to date.
