British musician Sting has released a live album recorded at Amsterdam's iconic Rijksmuseum earlier this year, where he performed in front of Rembrandt's most famous painting.
The album, titled "The Night Watch: Live at the Rijksmuseum," is now available on CD, vinyl and digitally.
"Well, it certainly wasn't expected. You know, you start life out in a punk group and you're playing in little dingy little clubs, and the idea of playing somewhere as august as the Rijksmuseum, this temple of high art with Rembrandt's most famous painting behind you, this was not in my plan at all," Sting told dpa.
The concert, in which the 17-time Grammy winner performed in front of Rembrandt's "The Night Watch", surrounded by works by Vermeer and Judith Leyster, was broadcast as part of the "Sounds Like Art" series on the arts channel Arte.
"But what a privilege and what a wonderful event to happen in one's life," said Sting, speaking to dpa from New York. "You'd be playing with grandmasters all around you, Vermeers. So unexpected but very, very wonderful."
'My songs are like paintings'
Sting, who turns 75 in October, sees a close connection between songs and paintings - both, he said, are about telling stories.
"The more you look at a painting, the more of a story you see ... just as the more you listen to a song, the more you, you understand," he said.
"My songs are layered just like a painting is layered with different layers of paint. They're complex just as paintings are complex. I'm not saying my songs are masterpieces at all. Maybe in the future they will be considered so, but to be surrounded by masterpieces has to be inspiring."
Sting visited Amsterdam in January as part of his world tour with his musical "The Last Ship." At the Rijksmuseum concert, accompanied only by his long-time musical collaborator Dominic Miller, he played songs from the show as well as Police classics such as "Message in a Bottle" and "Every Breath You Take" and solo hits including "All This Time" and "Fields of Gold."
"Well, that room certainly dictates a certain kind of reverence," he said. "I don't think it would have been appropriate to set up a drum kit and a lot of loud equipment."
"But for Dominic Miller and myself to sit there with two guitars and a microphone and play quietly, the room dictates what you will play. And I hope that we complemented the surroundings and the environment and the acoustic environment of the room. I think we managed that successfully."
'A song is a living, breathing thing'
The originally rather frenetic "Message in a Bottle" was reimagined as a reflective, minimalist ballad, while the pop hit "All This Time" was reworked as a quiet acoustic number.
"My job is not just to reproduce something that I recorded 40 years ago as if it's a museum artefact. It's not. It's a living, breathing thing," Sting explained. "I think my job really is to find something new in every song that I sing that I haven't discovered before. It's a journey of discovery."
That keeps the songs fresh for him, he said - "the same way a jazz musician will approach a standard."
A stripped-back version of the Police song "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" drew an enthusiastic response from the Rijksmuseum audience.
Sting said he wrote it about a young woman who once lived next door to him. He said that he fell for her immediately but it took two years before he had the courage to speak to her. He then revealed that the song was about his wife, Trudie Styler.
The couple have been together since the 1980s and married since 1992. "She's not only my wife, she's my best friend and my critic, if you like," Sting told dpa. "She keeps me honest and I appreciate that as a benefit in my life, a great one. So, I can't specifically tell you how she does that, but she does."
Sting recently spent a week at the Metropolitan Opera in New York with "The Last Ship."
He returns with the musical to Amsterdam in August before it plays London's West End. Before and after that, he continues his "Sting 3.0" tour across Europe and North America.
Longer breaks are not for the restless musician. "You have to explain the concept to me. I don't really understand that," he joked.
He said his work also plays a part in keeping him physically fit. "I think music keeps you fresh, you know. Music is about vibration. When you sing and when you play, your entire body vibrates in tune. I think vibrating in tune is very healthy."
