{"id":1028,"date":"2010-08-17T08:39:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-17T15:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=1028"},"modified":"2010-08-17T08:39:33","modified_gmt":"2010-08-17T15:39:33","slug":"sting-symphonicities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2010\/08\/sting-symphonicities\/","title":{"rendered":"STING + Symphonicities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Symphonicities\"<\/a>S<\/strong>TING<\/strong><\/p>\n

Symphonicities<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

[Deutsche Grammophon]<\/p>\n

The last several years have seen Sting giving fans exactly what they wanted\u2014a reunion tour from his former group, the Police. But in the studio, he\u2019s given fans a few things they didn\u2019t ask for\u2014namely, one album of 16th-century lute-based songs and another of winter-themed madrigals. Now he splits the difference with Symphonicities<\/em>, which presents selections from his considerable songbook\u2014including hits like \u201cRoxanne\u201d and \u201cEvery Little Thing She Does Is Magic\u201d\u2014in orchestral arrangements. Those songs are thankfully joined in the set list by some of the finest hidden gems of his catalog, such as \u201cThe End of the Game\u201d and \u201cThe Pirate\u2019s Bride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sting puts a twist on the rocker-goes-orchestral formula by focusing on several of his most raucous rock numbers. The Police\u2019s \u201cNext to You\u201d kicks off the album with a jolt, the New York Chamber Consort laying into the number with aplomb. Later, the jokey \u201cShe\u2019s Too Good for Me\u201d gets a similar treatment. The proceedings are further livened by the presence of percussion\u00a0and guitar, but Symphonicities<\/em> finally can\u2019t help but get a little sleepy. The world didn\u2019t need yet another version of \u201cRoxanne\u201d to begin with, and this one never gets its groove on. The Police and Sting\u2019s mid-1980s solo band used to build \u201cI Burn for You\u201d to a furious crescendo, but here it only simmers. Symphonicities<\/em> has its pleasures, but those still holding out for Sting\u2019s first album of new pop material since 2003\u2019s Sacred Love<\/em> will likely find it at once amusing, illuminating and frustrating. \u2013 Chris Neal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STING Symphonicities [Deutsche Grammophon] The last several years have seen Sting giving fans exactly what they wanted\u2014a reunion tour from his former group, the Police. But in the studio, he\u2019s given fans a few things they didn\u2019t ask for\u2014namely, one album of 16th-century lute-based songs and another of winter-themed madrigals. Now he splits the difference […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[196,622,623,620,621],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1028"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1031,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions\/1031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}