Tori Amos sounds jubilant discussing her latest tour behind her just-released album “Night of Hunters.” Perhaps that’s because the music on this, her 12th studio album, perfectly marries her classical and pop/rock artistry. The unique beauty of the album makes it even more troubling to think that it might never have been created.
“It did not cross my mind,” said the multiple-Grammy-winning Amos of revising music of classical masters including Bach. “There’s a level of hubris there that would worry me, but when you are approached and realize how few female composers have received opportunities, you just can’t say no.”
| Onstage |
| Tori Amos |
| When: 8 p.m. Monday |
| Where: DAR Constitution Hall, 1776 D St. NW, |
| Info: $45; 202-397-SEAT; ticketmaster.com |
Clearly, it would have been a pity if she did. The album made Billboard history by making Amos the only woman to ever have an album simultaneously debut on Billboard’s Classical, Alternative and Rock charts.
After selling out shows throughout Europe, Amos has begun her U.S. tour and announced she will soon release an instrumental version of the album called “Sin Palabras.”
What convinced Amos to undertake the work was an appeal by Dr. Alexander Buhr, the executive producer of Deutsche Grammophon, which released the album. Buhr approached Amos with the idea of writing a 21st century song cycle centered on classical music themes.
Amos credits Buhr with providing her materials “that would have taken me 20 years to gather” to create the work, which allows acoustic instrumentation to become the voices of characters in the story.
Though the instrumentation for this album is completely acoustic, the story line will be familiar to Amos’ fans. On this album, the central character, a woman who finds herself in the “dying embers of a relationship,” is one that she has previously explored though not as philosophically.
Amos enlisted an amazing group of talent with which to work on the album, including the Berlin Philharmonic’s principal clarinetist, Andreas Ottsensamer, and the acclaimed string quartet Apollon Musagete. Daughter Natashya Hawley and niece Kelsey Dobyns were enlisted as guest vocalists in this work, which Amos said is completely fictional.
She also worked closely with her longtime collaborator John Philip Shenale.
Amos said that despite all of the popular and critical acclaim she’s received in her career, touring behind this album with the Polish string quartet Apollon Musagete is a career highlight. Perhaps that’s not surprising when you recall she was a child prodigy who was composing scores at age 4 and at age 6 was the youngest person ever to be accepted into Baltimore’s famed Peabody Institute.
“I am having the time of my life,” she said of playing with the young, classically trained virtuosos on her tour. “They are in their late 20s and early 30s. They could be my sons. But when I am onstage with them, there is no difference in our ages. We are only musicians. … In working with them, I have become a much better player.”
