{"id":461,"date":"2011-03-07T05:12:01","date_gmt":"2011-03-07T10:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=461"},"modified":"2026-08-21T11:46:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T15:46:34","slug":"album-review-frank-zappas-classical-selection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/03\/07\/album-review-frank-zappas-classical-selection\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Frank Zappa\u2019s Classical Selection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Frank Zappa<\/strong> was never shy about admitting his musical influences. On the contrary: he enthusiastically pointed them out, in hopes that people who appreciated what his music was about would explore further. As early as the first Mothers<\/strong> LP (1966\u2019s Freak Out!<\/em>) Zappa went to the effort of name-checking a bunch of those artists. That so-called Freak Out List<\/a> would serve as a roadmap for adventurous listeners who wanted their music to be of the challenging variety.<\/p>\n

In 2008 the folks at Chrome Dreams released Frank Zappa\u2019s Jukebox: The Songs That Inspired the <\/em>Man<\/em>. That single-disc set explored the (relative) pop side of Zappa\u2019s influences, from doo-wop to blues. A decidedly more ambitious and challenging set is the 2011 double CD set Frank Zappa\u2019s Classical Selection: The Dissonant Classics That Informed and Inspired Zappa<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The title says it all. Well, not quite all: Derek Barker<\/strong>\u2019s sixteen-page liner notes are an essential component of the package, especially in light of the set\u2019s goal: introducing these work to relative newbies. The first disc is (again I\u2019ll use the term relatively<\/em>) the accessible one. Well-known works including Wagner<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cThe Ride of the Valkyries\u201d and Gustav<\/strong> Holst<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cJupiter\u201d from The Planets<\/em> are here, and in thrilling versions: that\u2019s Holst himself conducting the London Symphony Orchestra<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Anyone with more than a passing knowledge of Zappa\u2019s work will expect a track from Edgard Var\u00e8se<\/strong>, and in this case it\u2019s \u201cHyperprism.\u201d Other composers included on the jam-packed first disc include Ravel<\/strong> (conducting his \u201cBolero\u201d), Stravinsky<\/strong> (the only composer to merit two cuts on the disc) and Anton Webern<\/strong>. Things take a decidedly avant garde turn in the disc\u2019s more-or-less chronological sequencing; Arnold Schoenberg<\/strong> and Silvestre Revueltas<\/strong> may be lesser-known composers than Wagner and his pals, but their influence on Zappa is unmistakable. George Antheil<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cBallet Mecanique\u201d is a terrifying piece of music that must have seemed quite ahead of its time in 1924. For what it\u2019s worth, John Cage<\/strong>\u2019s \u201c4.33\u201d is included, though it\u2019s hard to take that one seriously. Another Cage composition might have been more instructive.<\/p>\n

Things get seriously weird with Conlon Nancarrow<\/strong>\u2019s player-piano-in-outer-space excursion \u201cStudy No. 11,\u201d and it\u2019s around this point in the disc that less adventurous listeners might get off the train. But if one is curious about Zappa\u2019s roots, holding on for the bumpy ride is the only choice. The disc wraps up with the performance that will sound the most Zappa-like to most listeners: Pierre Boulez<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cFirst Movement of Le Marteau Sans Maitre.\u201d With its tuned percussion and multiple overlapping melodic lines, it\u2019s a clear influence on Zappa\u2019s style, especially on mid-70s albums including Orchestral Favorites<\/em> and Studio Tan<\/em> (later collected as L\u00e4ther<\/em>).<\/p>\n

The second disc consists of material from the latter half of the 20th<\/sup> century; most of these are lengthier pieces that help the set\u2019s title earn its use of the word dissonant<\/em>. Harry Partch<\/strong>\u2019s depression-era hobo saga \u201c\u201dU.S. Highball\u201d is a deeply odd yet moving work; it\u2019s avant garde almost beyond description, consisting of spoken dialogue, bits of stagey singing, tuned percussion and sound effects. The piece likely exerted influence on Zappa\u2019s Lumpy Gravy<\/em>. The doomy operatic work \u201cIl Canto Sospeso\u201d from Venetian composer Luigi Nono<\/strong> uses a choral approach not dissimilar to the sort of style Zappa would employ on 200 Motels<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Karlheinz Stockhausen<\/strong>\u2019s 1958 work \u201cKontakte\u201d is the longest work on the set. It\u2019s also the work that feels the most Zappa-like, with its strange \u201csnorking\u201d sounds and use of electronic textures. Sections of silence and near-silence are used to great and contrast-enhancing effect. Olivier Messiaen<\/strong>\u2019s orchestral work \u201cChronochromie\u201d seems somehow less adventurous coming as it does after Stockhausen, but it\u2019s quite evocative at creating a compelling sense of unease. At times the piece\u2019s ambience suggests cartoon music, but then it quickly takes a left-turn into weirder, more dissonant textures. The second of its two parts has more in common with the music of Frank Zappa.<\/p>\n

Krzysztof Penderecke<\/strong>\u2019s terrifying 1960 orchestral piece \u201cThrenody to the Victims of Hiroshima\u201d manages to aurally suggest violence, chaos and destruction more effectively than any other instrumental work this reviewer has ever heard. The composer conducts the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra<\/strong> in this work full of contrasting volumes.<\/p>\n

Frank Zappa\u2019s Classical Selection<\/em> closes with a purely electronic work by a composer who assisted Var\u00e8se in his efforts. Turkish composer B\u00fclent Arel<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cElectronic Music No. 1\u201d clearly exerted influence on the avant garde end of the 1960s rock world; his work here sounds not wholly unlike sonic experiments by Joe Byrd<\/strong>\u2019s group The United States of America<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Thanks to its careful and thoughtful selection of performances, excellent sound and informative liner notes, Frank Zappa\u2019s Classical Selection<\/em> can serve as a useful gateway into the sonic influences that helped give the world Frank Zappa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Frank Zappa was never shy about admitting his musical influences. On the contrary: he enthusiastically pointed them out, in hopes that people who appreciated what his music was about would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32265,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions\/32265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}