Album: Tori Amos, Gold Dust (Deutsche Grammophon/ Mercury Classics)

On Gold Dust, Tori Amos revisits her old songs in the company of Amsterdam's Metropole Orchestra.

In some cases, as in "Cloud on My Tongue", the orchestrations serve as little more than swaddling blankets. But the more thoughtful rearrangements can be transformative: "Flavor" is reimagined in grandly Romantic manner, with undulating horns, woodwind and a vortex of strings; and the opening orchestral flourish of "Yes, Anastasia" lends a Western soundtrack ambience to its protagonist's search for strength. "Star of Wonder" retains the middle-eastern tone of its strings, while the emotional autopsies in songs such as "Precious Things" gain in subtle strength and grandeur.

Download: Silent All These Years; Flavor; Yes, Anastasia