At some stage in their careers, all pop musicians apparently start to wonder what their music would sound like in a symphonic setting. It's no coincidence that its generally later in or towards towards the end of their careers, since few artists have the clout or the cash to rent an orchestra at the beginning.

It's tempting to speculate about the reasons for this phenomena. Could it be that these pop artists are all making a last ditch play at the longevity that orchestral music seems to enjoy. Are they looking to find new fans? Are they simply genuinely interested in what such an experiment would sound like? Maybe its for all or none of these reasons.

Antonio Carlos Jobim, the undisputed boss of bossa, did it in 1976 with his Urubu album, apparently as a tribute to the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. Think of Yellow Shark, Frank Zappa's final album before he passed away. More recently, hip-hopper Kanye West did it with his 2006 album, Late Orchestration. And just last year (2010), Sting released his