Francesco Zappa (album)

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Francesco Zappa
Studio album by Frank Zappa

Publication
(s)

November 21, 1984

Label (s) Barking Pumpkin Records
Zappa Records (CD)
Rykodisc

Format (s)

LP vinyl , CD

Genre (s)

Classical music

Title (number)

17th

running time

37:53

occupation
  • David Ocker - notation and programming Synclavier

production

Frank Zappa

Studio (s)

Utility Muffin Research Kitchen

chronology
Thing-Fish
(1984) 		Francesco Zappa The Old Masters Box One
(1985)

Francesco Zappa is a recording made with the Synclavier of compositions by the Milanese composer Francesco Zappa from the late 18th century. The album was produced by Frank Zappa and apostrophized as Francesco Zappa's “first digital recording in over 200 years”.

History of origin

Gail Zappa , the wife of the American musician Frank Zappa , found an entry in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians about the Milanese composer Francesco Zappa . Other sources also state that clarinetist David Ocker, whom Zappa hired for sheet music transcription, came across the entry. Frank Zappa obtained the sheet music from the music library of the University of California, Los Angeles and had Ocker programmed some trios for two violins and bass into the Synclavier.

At this point in time, the Synclavier did not have the ability to sample natural sounds , the individual voices were generated synthetically. Zappa told Keyboard! three years later that he found the instrumentation with two violins and a straight bass as unappealing and that he doubts that the piece would have been interesting if he had recorded it in the most natural timbre possible. He therefore “only added a little Technicolor ”.

Ocker later noticed that Zappa had originally wanted the music to sound as natural as possible. During the recordings for the album, however, Zappa found the sound of the synclavier to be far too boring and conservative. He therefore chose very “noisy” synthesizer sounds, which would have blurred the nuances of the piece worked out by Ocher and falsified the compositions of Francesco Zappa.

Zappa released the trio sonatas Opus I and Opus IV in November 1984 on his label Barking Pumpkin Records .

Track list

No. title tempo Duration
Opus I.
01 No. 1, 1st Movement Andante 3:28
02 2nd Movement Allegro con brio 1:27
03 No. 2, 1st Movement Andantino 2:14
04 2nd Movement Minuetto grazioso 2:02
05 No. 3, 1st Movement Andantino 1:52
06 2nd Movement Presto 1:50
07 No. 4, 1st Movement Andante 2:20
08 2nd Movement Allegro 3:02
09 No. 5, 2nd Movement Minuetto grazioso 2:26
10 No. 6, 1st Movement largo 2:05
11 2nd Movement Minuet 2:01
Opus IV
12 No. 1, 1st Movement Andantino 2:42
13 2nd Movement Allegro assai 1:58
14th No. 2, 2nd Movement Allegro assai 1:17
15th No. 3, 1st Movement Andante 2:22
16 2nd Movement Tempo di Minuetto 1:58
17th No. 4, 1st Movement Minuetto 2:07

Album cover

Album cover Francesco Zappa
External web links to copyrighted content.

In the lower left quarter of the cover, a dog is shown wearing sunglasses and a brown short-sleeved shirt. The title Francesco Zappa is written above it, filling the width of the cover , in green font reminiscent of LED displays. Under the title is “The music of Francesco Zappa (fl. 1763–1788). His first digital recording in over 200 years ”(English for the music of Francesco Zappa (creative period 1763–1788). His first digital recording in over 200 years ). The picture is by Donald Roller Wilson, New Age Art is given for graphic design . A collage by Gabriela Raumberger is shown on the back of the insert. It shows a person in a late 19th century wig with a mounted red hat with a feather in front of a European urban background. There is a sign on one of the roofs that reads “UMRK Digital Baroque Amusement Facility”. The person is holding a quill in their right hand that appears to be writing on a sheet of music. In a thought bubble it says “Who gets this one?” ( Who understands this? )

reception

Music journalist Barry Miles notes that the album's music sounds like a computer playing classical music. It is "mechanical, soulless, lifeless". Zappa didn't put too much effort into this project. He compares the album with the 1969 album Electronic Sound by George Harrison , on which he worked out the possibilities of the Minimoog synthesizer - Francesco Zappa was also an attempt by Zappa to explore the limits of the synclavier.

The sociologist Ben Watson compares the recording in its “mechanical appearance of computer-generated sounds”, which are based on the limited artificial sound generation of the Synclavier, with a sounding Christmas card. Just like the album Cruising with Ruben & the Jets , released fifteen years earlier, it contrasts with the other released albums. Watson sees the album's importance on a conceptual rather than a musical level. It opens up a new perspective on issues relating to musical objectivity, to scientific and technological progress that manifests itself in the music genre.

literature

  • Kelly Fisher Lowe: The Words and Music of Frank Zappa . University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln / London 2007, ISBN 978-0-8032-6005-4 .
  • Barry Miles : Zappa . Rogner & Bernhard bei Zweiausendeins, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-8077-1010-8 , p. 369-371 .
  • David Ocker: The Musical Times of Francesco Zappa . liner notes of the album “Francesco Zappa”. Barking Pumpkin Records, 1984.
  • Ben Watson: Frank Zappa. The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play . Quarted Books Ltd., London 1996, ISBN 0-7043-0242-X , Chapter 9, Section Francesco Zappa, p. 433-434 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Guido Salvetti: Francesco Zappa . In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary Of Music & Musicians . tape 20 . London u. a. 1980, ISBN 0-333-23111-2 , pp. 644 .
  2. ^ Neill Slaven: Electric Don Quixote . Bothworth Music, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-86543-042-2 , pp. 359-360 .
  3. ↑ a b c Barry Miles : Zappa . Rogner & Bernhard bei Zweiausendeins, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-8077-1010-8 , p.  369-371 .
  4. ↑ Jim Aikin, Bob Doerschuk: Sample This! In: Keyboard . February 1987. , quoted in Neill Slaven: Electric Don Quixote . Bothworth Music, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-86543-042-2 , pp. 360 .
  5. ↑ Ben Watson: Frank Zappa. The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play . Quarted Books Ltd., London 1996, ISBN 0-7043-0242-X , Chapter 9, Section Francesco Zappa, p. 433-434 .