Through The Flint Glass: The Apollon Musagete Quartett

The Apollon Musagète Quartett, the award-winning collective of young musicians from Poland, trained in Vienna and wowed the world with its ability to make well-known classical works fresh and new, for its support of lesser-known Polish composers, for playing pieces for string quartet with orchestra, and for composing its own modern classical works — something a quartet has never done before. In the five short years since its birth, the Apollon Musagète Quartett has not only shaken the classical world, but earned the attention of Tori Amos, who recorded Night of Hunters with the group and is bringing them with her on a world tour in support of the new album, due out September 20 in the United States and September 26 in the UK.

This is the first time Tori has brought string musicians on tour with her, and it’s the first time the Apollon Musagète Quartett has toured with a pop musician. Together they will perform works from Night of Hunters as well as songs from Tori’s catalogue, freshly re-arranged by John Philip Shenale. The quartet is also developing a brand-new piece, inspired by Tori, that it will perform.

We recently traded emails with Apollon Musagète Quartett violinist Pawel Zalejski, who shared stories about recording with Tori, walking the Cornish seaside, and the prospect of meetings Tori’s world-famous fans. (Since English isn’t Pawel’s first language, he kindly gave us permission to “smooth out” some of his responses.) Click through to see our Q&A with Pawel.

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Tori On BBC Breakfast

Tori was a guest on BBC Breakfast this morning.

Thanks to Jim and Brian for sending this in.

First Listen: Complete Stream Of Night Of Hunters On NPR

Listen to a full stream of Night of Hunters and read Ann Powers’ review of the album on NPR.org.

Thanks to Chris, Kelsey, emby, and Marci for sending this in.

September 11 — We Will Never Forget

Q&A: Will There Be An Extension Of The Night Of Hunters Tour?

Q: With regards to tour dates, have you heard anything that may lead you to believe Tori will be adding additional dates, particularly in the US, following December, 2011? —Matt

A: Sadly, no. We have confirmation that the sun will set on the Night of Hunters tour in December.

The Score On The iTunes Deluxe Edition Score

When we mentioned that the iTunes US deluxe edition of Night of Hunters would also include a download of the score, a lot of people (including us) were a bit confused about what that meant, exactly.

We’ve received confirmation that the score will be the physical sheet music for all the tracks, but not just the piano parts — the parts for all of the instruments in each song. (Quick, raise your hand if you’re trying to figure out how you can become BFFs with a string quartet right now.)

There are no plans to release instrument-only audio versions of the tracks, at least not any time soon, if ever. Those are locked tightly in the vault for safe-keeping.

Glide Magazine Reviews Night of Hunters

The Night of Hunters reviews just keep popping up…and we still have a couple weeks to the release date! This time, it’s Peter Zimmerman’s review for Glide Magazine. It’s an in-depth examination, from inception to instrumentation and conceit to concept, that soberly declares the album to be Tori’s “most absorbing, forceful and captivating record since 2002’s Scarlet’s Walk,” giving it 4-and-a-half stars out of 5.

Thanks to Stoff (who, we hear, has migrated to Borneo) for the tip!

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Third Johannesburg Show Confirmed!

A THIRD peformance at the Theatre of Marcellus at Emperor’s Palace in Johannesburg, South Africa has been added and tickets are now on-sale via Computicket.

As you may recall, this show was originally shown on the Emperor’s Palace website but then removed leading everyone to think that it was an option, depending on how sales of the first two nights went. Since they’ve both done well, the third night was added earlier this morning.

Interestingly, the show is not listed on the Emperor’s Palace website and they are currently not selling tickets for it — they’re only available from Computicket at this time.

The Night of Hunters Pre Release Sweepstakes

ToriAmos.com is running a Night of Hunters promotion that, if you win, could net you front row tickets to one of 13 shows on the North American leg of the Night of Hunters tour and the opportunity to meet her in person at that show!

To enter the Night of Hunters Pre Release Sweepstakes, you’ll need to pre-order a copy of the new album, take a photo or a screenshot of the order confirmation, fill out the form on the sweepstakes page and upload the order confirmation image. Finally, you’ll also have to pick a stop on the tour that you would like to win tickets for. All entries must be received by 11:59 PM Pacific time on September 20th.

There will be 2 winners picked for each of the 13 concerts (Atlanta, Philadelphia, both New York shows, Washington, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, Oakland, both Los Angeles shows, Austin and Dallas). Each winner will get 2 front row tickets and the chance to meet Tori at the show. Additionally, there will be 26 winners who receive a personally signed copy of the Night of Hunters vinyl release — for those who want to enter but are unable to attend any of the eligible concerts.

Note: as the contest rules state, you must be 18 or older and a legal resident of the continental United States to enter. You can also enter the contest without pre-ordering the album by sending a postcard with your name, address, birth year and phone number to Stephanie Shim c/o Tori Amos Pre Order Sweepstakes, Decca Label Group, 825 8th Ave, 19th Fl, New York, New York 10019.

Make sure to check out the rest of the fine print for other exciting legalese too!

Good luck to all who enter!

This Is Your iTunes Deluxe Edition Bonus. This Is Your Extra.

Earlier this week, we mentioned that Night of Hunters had been added to iTunes. At the time, we suspected that there would be no special extras associated with the iTunes edition — but we were wrong!

Turns out that pre-orders for the deluxe edition on iTunes includes an exclusive link to download of the score of the record, in addition to the the videos for “Carry” and “Nautical Twilight,” and behind-the-scenes footage.

Assuming the latter is the same as the documentary included on the DVD of the physical version of the deluxe edition (though we all know what assumptions lead to!), the only extra for getting the deluxe edition on iTunes would be the score.