Frank Zappa - Classical Style

Frank Zappa began writing classical music when he was still in high school. A big fan of avant-garde composer Edgard Verese and classical composer Igor Stravinsky, he wrote classical music before he turned his eye toward rock and roll. You’ll find bits and pieces of classical music on some albums [Lumpy Gravy, Uncle Meat], and full-blown orchestral pieces on others [Orchestral Favorites, London Symphony Orchestra Vols 1 & 2]. On Boulez Conducts Zappa – The Perfect Stranger, some of FZ’s rock compositions were adapted by Pierre Boulez to a classical setting. Frankfurt’s Ensemble Modern albuums The Yellow Shark and Greggry Peccary and Other Persuasions are classical interpretations of old Zappa favorites and other works he composed on the Synclavier, as well as original classical pieces FZ wrote especially for them to play. With the exception of Greggery Peccary, all of these works were done in FZ’s lifetime, with his guiding hand. Since his death in 1993, two groups of musicians have recorded some FZ works in a classical format. These are the Ensemble Ambrosius and the Omnibus Wind Ensemble. I won’t write any in-depth analysis of these works. I’m just making you aware of them.

The Ensemble Ambrosius is a Finnish chamber music group that plays modern music on baroque instruments [harpsichord, cello, oboe, recorders, mandolin, organ, lute, glockenspiel, etc]. It began as two young musicians from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland who not only shared a love for classical music, but also a love for the music of Frank Zappa. In what was originally planned as a joke, these musicians, Olli Virtoperko and Jonte Knif [joined by harpsichordist Ere Lievonen], conspired to perform Uncle Meat on two harpsichords and a baroque cello at the final concert of an early music summer course in 1995. The fourth member of the group, oboist Jasu Moisio, was present in the audience. Soon after that Jasu joined them, and what was originally intended as a one-time musical joke led to the forming of Ensemble Ambrosius. It took the musicians four years to transcribe FZ’s work, so The Zappa Album was quite a long time in the making.

Having cut their album of their interpretations of Frank Zappa’s music, they met with the approval of Gail Zappa, FZ’s widow who controls the rights to Zappa's music. When she heard Ensemble Ambrosius' rendition of Zappa for the first time, she immediately approved the whole project, making The Zappa Album one of the few recordings of Zappa performed by other artists ever released in co-operation with The Zappa Family Trust. Ms. Zappa, however, had one request. Zappa himself had always emphasized the significance of conceptual continuity in his art, which time and again returned to same themes and topics. This in mind Ms. Zappa asked if the rabbit on the cover of The Zappa Album could utter one of Zappa's keywords: Arf! [as heard on Evelyn, a Modified Dog from One Size Fits All]. They were more than happy to oblige.

The tracklist: Night School/Sofa/Black Page #2/Uncle Meat/Igor's Boogie/Zoot Allures/Big Swifty/T'mershi Duween/Alien Orifice/The Idiot Bastard Son/RDNZL/The Orange County Lumber Truck/Echidna's Arf (Of You)/Inca Roads/G-Spot Tornado

The Omnibus Wind Ensemble is a 12-piece Swedish group founded in 1981 and dedicated to their own arrangements of works and commissioned works, as well as collaborations with a variety of other performers. What is it with Scandanavians and Frank Zappa? But I digress...Their instrumentation includes flutes, oboes, English horn, clarinets, saxes, and percussion. The Omnibus Wind Ensemble's interest in Frank Zappa's music dates back to the beginning of the 1980s, almost from the very beginning. Under the motto "From Mozart to Zappa", which also became the title of their first, widely acclaimed CD under the Opus 3 label, they have had many of Frank Zappa's compositions on their repertoire over the years. Omnibus Wind Ensemble is a unique group because of its very wide repertoire and virtuoso playing, but also because of its deep interest in the very controversial composer Frank Zappa. Twelve men strong, and with the rather unusual combination of bassoons and double bass deep down, with a very colourful collection of individual musicians, many of them playing several instruments, this group has really created a style and sound of its own. The Omnibus CD Music By Frank Zappa is a grand tour of his music - from the beautiful Peaches En Regalia, the highly complex Revised Music For A Low Budget Orchestra, the outstandingly humorous Brown Shoes Don't Make It to the jazz-bluesy introduction of Inca Roads. Some of the selections here can be found on the Ensemble Ambrosius collection, but the differences between the versions of the two groups are worth paying the price for hearing the same songs. One can never have too many versions of Inca Roads. Warning: the Omnibus Wind Ensemble collection is very hard to find. I don’t know how I lucked out and got a copy, but I’m glad I did.

The tracklist: Inca Roads, How Could I Be Such a Fool, Revised Music for a Low Budget Orchestra, Let's Make the Water Turn Black, The Black Page No. 2, No. 7, Igor's Boogie, Be-Bop Tango, Alien Orifice, Dog Breath Variations, Uncle Meat, Sinister Footwear-2nd Movement, Brown Shoes Don't Make It, Peaches En Regalia, Bolero (Maurice Ravel).

Ok, why do the Omnibus Wind Ensemble include Ravel’s Bolero here? Because they can – Frank Zappa did his own version on The Best Band You’ve Never Heard In Your Life. Since Frank Zappa is still dead, I’m not sure what kind of music the Zappa Family Trust will share with his listening public. Until there’s a proper Frank Zappa release, I’ll be content to hear interpretations of his music such as these. The Omnibus Wind Ensemble and Ensemble Ambrosious are both ESSENTIAL recordings. GET THEM if you like this sort of stuff. They are "precise" AND light and playful. They both bring a "freshness" to the music. Each group sounds like they’re having fun with Frank Zappa’s material. If I had to pick one over the other on the basis of performance and originality, I’d say go with the Ensemble Ambrosius. If an outstanding recording is what you want, the Ominbus Wind Ensemble has great sound.