Night Of Hunters

This is not the first nor the last time a pop star of the file becomes part of Deutsche Grammophon, which specializes in classical music and popularly associated with it, but certainly if Tori Amos is quite curious just expelled from the conservatory for his unorthodox way of understanding music, his taste for profane genres and their desire to transgress the limitations of staff, and all this with only eleven years now, late thirties then, is given carte blanche to disassemble, recreate and reinterpret large and, in some cases, immensely popular classical scores.Tori Amos has never chosen the flat road and in this work, that somehow redeems a career increasingly difficult to assimilate and to certain questions, go back to build a great work inarbacable conceptual symbolism, as usual allows readings at different zoom levels. Superficially, we support a woman who just broke up with her partner of nightfall (`Shattering Sea ') to the hopeful dawn (' Carry ') on a trip around the duality, either between hunter / prey, man / women (from a historical perspective, social and individual) or, ironically, classical / modern music (hilarious, known the circumstances, that moment of 'Your Ghost' in which he says "He'll play a Beatles tunes / I , Bach fugue more / Is this Such a great divide / Between your world and mine "). If you already have hitherto seemed a mess, I have to remember that this is only the simplest interpretation. The complicated, always with the idea of ''telling a story in the most purely classical script requires and includes epic, mythological characters and intricate metaphors, however common in the discography of American make heard in the labyrinth.The oddest thing about 'Night Of Hunters' is that, given the diverse origins of their referents (borrows scores of Satie, Schubert, Chopin, Bach, Debussy and Mussorgsky, among others), is one of the most compact discs, as unit it is difficult to think of listening to some of their songs separately. In fact, 'Carry' serving as a single in advance, but not until it is in the context when it reaches full strength. The most surprising thing is how and how Tori Amos, accepting, with all the race that takes her back, running the risk of running out of his usual collaborators, record sound, assign part of the role of Bösendorfer (always pervasive and indispensable to string and wind instruments and to point to passages that have already adopted as instrumental, get up and down one of his records provide more complete and personal. And the most exciting thing is not to discover the wink of `Star Whisperer 'to' Yes, Anastasia '(or both Schubert, rather) but meet the delicate voice of Natashya, daughter Tori, accompanying his mother on a handful delicious moments that a fan has to enjoy the brink of ecstasy.And with the emergence of Natashya are still a few twists that give this 'Night of Hunters', a hard disk that requires lots of patience, to which you have to tip your hat as the result as a promising opening creative way in the career of Tori Amos: a) the character who plays the daughter, a kind of fairy named Annabelle, is, paradoxically, who guides the player through its affirmation and self-evening, and two) Natashya Hawley has , today, eleven years.

Wow, I nearly missed this one, and boy am I glad I didn't. I was chatting to a friend a couple of weeks ago about tori's earlier albums and realised I missed quite a few so I popped on to amazon and topped up my collection. The others haven't had a look in, I just can't get enough of this album. I'm not really into classical music but this is classical tori style, full of passion and beauty. The production is fantastic and the other musicians really compliment tori and her piano without detracting from it. It has a great flow. Even the tracks which should annoy me work in the greater scheme of things. I was very worried about having her daughter on the album as it usually is abit embarrassing when artists do it, but her voice is wonderful and has a maturity far beyond her (at the time) 11years. They work really well together and I'll be interested to hear her in a few years time. It is a brilliant album, give it a couple of listens and let it take over.I do just have to get this off my chest. Why does every album have to be compared to little earthquakes. Don't get me wrong it is an amazing album and it was the voice for me 20 years ago and I know I'm not the only one, not by a long way. But for crying out loud, it was 20 years ago! I was a very different person then, 18 years old full of hopes and dreams and pain and despair and lust and all the other emotions that tori managed to voice for us all. But just as I am 20 years older, so is tori so why should every new album be the new little earthquakes! Please let it go, celebrate the past of course, but also embrace the present and the future.

To me this represents the 'new classical', that is to say modern voices and sensibilities combined with classical instrumentation. This album is clearly dividing Tori's audience, but as an occasional Tori fan and full-time classical fan, let me say this is very good indeed. It may not delight those that prefer to hear her with a rock band (AOR) dynamic, but that (and those reviews) shouldn't put off the potential listener (and possibly new fans).The tunes are great, often exquisite, with many of them based on great classical works. The small ensemble is amazing (top notch classical players) and the piano playing (and the very sound of it!) is fabulous. Compare the piano here to that of Boys For Pele (an album I love), but here it sounds so much richer, cleaner and 'in the room'.Highlights:Lots, including Shattering Sea, Fealessness, Cactus Practice, Star Whisperer, Your Ghost.Lowlights:The lyrics and song-cycle theme (as usual!)

Tori Amos demeurera toujours Tori Amos. Un autre chef d'œuvre.

Excelente trabajo

Les musiques classiques choisies par Tori Amos sont exceptionnelles et les textes écrits pour ce mariage nous proposent un voyage hors du temps...

Avevo alte aspettative per questo disco ma sono rimasto un po deluso, non so spiegare il motivo , i brani sono belli , fuori da qualsiasi contesto commerciale ma qualcosa non mi convince fino in fondo, probabilmente l' invadente presenza della voce della figlia di Tori ha contribuito a non farmelo amare piu di tanto....Splendido il brano "Carry" che é diventato uno dei miei preferiti dell' artista , per il resto alti e bassi.

2011 has been a troubling year for America and the West, but a good year for rock n' roll and popular music, especially for older women artists.Marianne Faithfull released the critically-acclaimed 'Horses and High Heels,' her 18th studio album, and traveled throughout the United States and Europe supporting it; Stevie Nicks released her seventh solo album, 'In Your Dreams,' an album which, with 2001's 'Trouble in Shangri-La,' creatively revived her failing career against all odds after her 80s and 90s downturn; Blondie released their low-key and rather unadventurous ninth album, 'Panic of Girls,' and Kate Bush released an album of reworked songs, 'Director's Cut,' and will be releasing '50 Words For Snow,' her first recording of new material in six years, later this year.In the midst of this activity comes 'Night of Hunters,' Tori Amos's 12th album of new material since 1992's 'Little Earthquakes.' Commissioned by the prestigious German record label Deutsche Grammophon and described as "a 21st century song cycle inspired by classical music themes spanning over 400 years," the album features eleven tracks based on the compositions of Bach, Schubert, Chopin, Debussy, Mendelssohn, Mussorgsky, and others.About the time of Amos's excellent second album, 'Under the Pink' (1994), her fans seemed to diverge into two camps: those who fairly embraced almost anything Amos released, and those who preferred what might be referred to as the 'woman at her piano' compositions such as 'Winter,' 'Baker, Baker,' 'Yes, Anastasia,' 'Cooling,' 'Lust,' 'Josephine,' and, later, 'Indian Summer,' 'Apollo's Frock,' 'Garlands,' and 'Snow Angel.'The good news for both groups, especially the latter, is that 'Night of Hunters' features no percussion, has been recorded with string quartet Apollon Musagète and arranger John Philip Shenale, and very much revolves around Amos at her piano, which is quite suitable, since Amos began her music instruction at a very young age at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland.Does 'Night of Hunters' sound anything like Amos's previous work? Are there any Amos 'classics' among the eleven tracks?The answer to both questions is 'Yes': the most outstanding track may be the majestic and passionate 'Star Whisperer' (based on Schubert's Piano Sonata in A major D 959), which is passionate in the tradition of the live version of 'Sugar' (from 'To Venus & Back,' 1999) and the title track from 2002's 'Scarlet's Walk.' 'Night of Hunters' (Scarlatti's Sonata in F minor K. 466 and Gregorian Chant 'Salva Regina') is almost equally passionate, and also somewhat frightening, as only Amos can be: at points, the track sounds as if the Furies are descending.'Fearlessness' has something of the drive of 'Carbon' and 'Tombigbee,' the catchy but serious-minded 'Job's Coffin' features an excellent lead vocal by Amos's young daughter Natashya Hawley, 'Nautical Twilight' features something of the playfulness of 'The Wrong Band,' 'Wednesday,' and 'Velvet Revolution,' while the closing track, 'Carry' (framed around a Debussy piece) is very much in the melancholy-but-hopeful tradition of past Amos closing tracks such as 'A Thousand Oceans,' 'Gold Dust,' 'Toast,' and 'Our New Year.'If the album stumbles, it does so at the beginning: The opening line of first track 'Shattering Sea' (Alkan's Song of the Madwoman on the Sea-Shore, Prelude op. 31 no. 8), "That is not my blood on the bedroom floor," is delivered melodramatically rather than dramatically, and, musically speaking, the composition simply isn't compelling.'Battle of Trees,' the third track, which is based on Erik Satie's very short, mischievous, and elfin Gnossienne no. 1, is slowed to a crawl and extended to more than eight minutes. The result is flat, tepid, and considerably stalls the forward motion of the whole.Whether 'Night of Hunters' is indeed "the best thing Amos has released in over a decade," as some of the early reviews have claimed, will be up to each listener to decide. It may be that 'Night of Hunters' is simply a little purer than 'The Beekeeper' (2005), 'American Doll Posse' (2007), and the generally underrated 'Abnormally Attracted to Sin' (2009).Most fans and listeners who enjoyed Amos's holiday/solstice album, 'Midwinter's Graces' (2009), will readily be able to embrace and recommend the beautiful, highly accomplished 'Night of Hunters.'Lastly: is Tori Amos one of the preeminent musical artists of her era? Undoubtedly.