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Canuck
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 Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:08 am Post subject: Frank Zappa's Orchestral music |
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I would be interested in hearing the opinions of people regarding the worth
of Frank Zappa's so called serious music. Apologies if this has been
covered before.
Personally I find it rather dry, souless and uninteresting but wonder if
this is down to the standards of the orchestral groups he used of which he
constantly complained during his life.
Not being very well informed regarding modern orchestral music, I prefer the
Romantic era, but being a great fan of Zappa's more serious rock music I
would be greatly interested to hear the opinions of knowledgable listeners. |
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mark steven brooks
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 8:30 am Post subject: Re: Frank Zappa's Orchestral music |
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Canuck wrote:
| Quote: | I would be interested in hearing the opinions of people regarding the
worth of Frank Zappa's so called serious music. Apologies if this has
been covered before.
Personally I find it rather dry, souless and uninteresting but wonder if
this is down to the standards of the orchestral groups he used of which
he constantly complained during his life.
Not being very well informed regarding modern orchestral music, I prefer
the Romantic era, but being a great fan of Zappa's more serious rock
music I would be greatly interested to hear the opinions of knowledgable
listeners.
|
Some of his orchestral writing is very lush and beautiful (I'm thinking
now of some of the material on Lumpy Gravy and We're Only In It For The
Money). My main complaint regarding his 'serious' music is that it's
too derivative. He stole his percussion writing outright from Varese.
I also here Boulez in there. Some of the orchestral and choral writing
in 200 Motels sounds like it was lifted from Stockhausen's Momente.
I'm sure he knew the piece. There are some works which I like very
much; Naval Aviation in Art? is quite beautiful and his music for the
film on the Exxon Valdez disaster is very moving. Pedro's Dowry is
entertaining as is G-Spot Tornado and many others. But you're right, a
lot of it is rather dry. I think he was at his best he mixed it all up
(stylistically speaking). |
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Canuck
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 8:30 am Post subject: Re: Frank Zappa's Orchestral music |
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Oh yes some of earlier works were very listenable, I like to think he was a
very capable "fanfare" composer. It's when he gets into the LSO and Boulez
recordings he loses me. I don't know enough about composition to know if
they are considered good, bad or indifferent. I just know what I like and
generally I like to hear something tuneful. Most 20th century music sounds
lacking imo. The only modern piece I can think of which I find attractive
is Schoenbergs Die Verklaerte Nacht, and that harkens back to an older time.
"mark steven brooks" <elaterium@optonline.net> wrote in message
news:4924e5de$0$4905$607ed4bc@cv.net...
| Quote: | Canuck wrote:
I would be interested in hearing the opinions of people regarding the
worth of Frank Zappa's so called serious music. Apologies if this has
been covered before.
Personally I find it rather dry, souless and uninteresting but wonder if
this is down to the standards of the orchestral groups he used of which
he constantly complained during his life.
Not being very well informed regarding modern orchestral music, I prefer
the Romantic era, but being a great fan of Zappa's more serious rock
music I would be greatly interested to hear the opinions of knowledgable
listeners.
Some of his orchestral writing is very lush and beautiful (I'm thinking
now of some of the material on Lumpy Gravy and We're Only In It For The
Money). My main complaint regarding his 'serious' music is that it's too
derivative. He stole his percussion writing outright from Varese. I also
here Boulez in there. Some of the orchestral and choral writing in 200
Motels sounds like it was lifted from Stockhausen's Momente. I'm sure he
knew the piece. There are some works which I like very much; Naval
Aviation in Art? is quite beautiful and his music for the film on the
Exxon Valdez disaster is very moving. Pedro's Dowry is entertaining as is
G-Spot Tornado and many others. But you're right, a lot of it is rather
dry. I think he was at his best he mixed it all up (stylistically
speaking). |
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mark steven brooks
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:30 pm Post subject: Re: Frank Zappa's Orchestral music |
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Canuck wrote:
| Quote: | Oh yes some of earlier works were very listenable, I like to think he
was a very capable "fanfare" composer. It's when he gets into the LSO
and Boulez recordings he loses me. I don't know enough about
composition to know if they are considered good, bad or indifferent. I
just know what I like and generally I like to hear something tuneful.
Most 20th century music sounds lacking imo. The only modern piece I can
think of which I find attractive is Schoenbergs Die Verklaerte Nacht,
and that harkens back to an older time.
|
Not when it was written, remember it's over 100 years old. But there's
a lot of 20th century art music that IS 'tuneful' if that's what you're
looking for. Even some of John Cage's work. |
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Poldie
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 1:50 am Post subject: Re: Frank Zappa's Orchestral music |
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mark steven brooks wrote:
| Quote: | Canuck wrote:
I would be interested in hearing the opinions of people regarding the
worth of Frank Zappa's so called serious music. Apologies if this has
been covered before.
Personally I find it rather dry, souless and uninteresting but wonder
if this is down to the standards of the orchestral groups he used of
which he constantly complained during his life.
Not being very well informed regarding modern orchestral music, I
prefer the Romantic era, but being a great fan of Zappa's more serious
rock music I would be greatly interested to hear the opinions of
knowledgable listeners.
Some of his orchestral writing is very lush and beautiful (I'm thinking
now of some of the material on Lumpy Gravy and We're Only In It For The
Money). My main complaint regarding his 'serious' music is that it's
too derivative. He stole his percussion writing outright from Varese. I
also here Boulez in there. Some of the orchestral and choral writing in
200 Motels sounds like it was lifted from Stockhausen's Momente. I'm
sure he knew the piece. There are some works which I like very much;
Naval Aviation in Art? is quite beautiful and his music for the film on
the Exxon Valdez disaster is very moving. Pedro's Dowry is entertaining
as is G-Spot Tornado and many others. But you're right, a lot of it is
rather dry. I think he was at his best he mixed it all up
(stylistically speaking).
|
That's his older 'orchestral' writing. What about Yellow Shark, or the
related pieces on Civilization Phase 3 or Everything is Healing Nicely.
I don't think there's a qualitative difference betweens some of the
pieces on those disk to other contemporary composers. It certainly is
stark the difference in respect he gets compared to Stockhausen,
considering some of the godawful sounds the latter has used on some of
his later pieces. Anyone who thinks Cosmic Pulses is some sort of
achievement should give Civilization Phase 3 a good listen. |
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