Classical Zappa - Revision history

Spider of Destiny at 21:33, 6 June 2026

2026-06-06T21:33:12Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 14:51, 5 November 2021

2021-11-05T14:51:04Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 20:26, 1 October 2021

2021-10-01T20:26:40Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 05:12, 28 September 2021

2021-09-28T05:12:12Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 04:34, 28 September 2021

2021-09-28T04:34:06Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 03:12, 22 July 2021

2021-07-22T03:12:10Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 02:45, 22 July 2021

2021-07-22T02:45:05Z

Spider of Destiny at 20:21, 17 November 2020

2020-11-17T20:21:14Z

Spider of Destiny at 23:59, 26 October 2020

2020-10-26T23:59:31Z

Spider of Destiny at 01:35, 2 December 2010

2010-12-02T01:35:17Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:33, 6 June 2026
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	[[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]		[[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]
−	[[Category:~~1983~~]]	+	[[Category:1984]]

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 The first interview was conducted the day after this year's ''Grammy'' winners were announced. "The night before the Grammys, I was interviewed on CBS. They edited my 12 minutes down to eight. Basically, what I said was, the Grammys are a farce. They wouldn't be so bad if the people who ran them wouldn't try to make them out to be something they aren't. They have nothing to do with merit. The real criteria are record sales or if the person is your friend. They have nothing to do with quality work in music in the United States, but they keep pretending it is something else, and that bothers me.
-"Before any American gets any chance to participate in popular music, the music has to pass through three filters: It has to be OK'd by a cocaine-infested music executive, it has to be aesthetically pleasing to someone who is gay (I have nothing against gays, but their aesthetic is different), and it has to be proven fiscally prudent by an MBA. The net result is what we now get as entertainment."
+"Before any American gets any chance to participate in popular music, the music has to pass through three filters: It has to be OK'd by a cocaine-infested music executive, it has to be aesthetically pleasing to someone who is gay (I have nothing against gays, but their aesthetic is different), and it has to be proven fiscally prudent by an [[M.B.A.|MBA]]. The net result is what we now get as entertainment."
 Zappa, it must not be forgotten, is the creator of such notable achievements in questionable taste as [[Don't Eat The Yellow Snow|Don't Eat the Yellow Snow]] and [[Legend Of The Illinois Enema Bandit|The Illinois Enema Bandit]]. He has built his own reputation on a certain amount of concert theatricality. Obnoxious concert theatricality. In fact, for much of his career he has been a kind of [[Lenny Bruce]] of music. Is Zappa turning serious in his old age? Is he becoming conservative? Or has he been funny because he's so serious?

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 For another, his most recent album is made up of his own classical compositions recorded by the [[London Symphony Orchestra (The Orchestra)|London Symphony Orchestra]]. Soon to be released is more of the same, this time for chamber orchestra.
-Finally, Zappa will be keynote speaker at the ''American Society of University Composers 19th Annual Festival Conference'', being held this week at the ''Ohio State University School of Music.'' He said that he found the whole idea of his speaking before university composers "preposterous." Nevertheless, he is doing it.
+Finally, Zappa will be keynote speaker at the ''[https://wp.societyofcomposers.org/ American Society of University Composers] 19th Annual Festival Conference'', being held this week at the ''Ohio State University School of Music.'' He said that he found the whole idea of his speaking before university composers "preposterous." Nevertheless, he is doing it.
 But, rock readers and Zappa followers, before you cower and slink away at the sight of the word "classical," consider this: The following interview covers a lot of ground, during which he manages to insult just about everybody. And, some people would argue that Zappa has always been a "classical" composer anyway, albeit camouflaged in a rock medium.

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 * Favorite composers – 1. [[Edgard Varèse|Edgar Varèse]], 2. [[Anton Webern]]
 * Unfavorite composers – 1. [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], 2. [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], 3. "the ones everybody else loves"
-* Favorite opera – [[Krzysztof Penderecki|Penderecki]]'s ''[[The Devils of Loudon]]'': "I liked the enema scene. "
+* Favorite opera – [[Krzysztof Penderecki|Penderecki]]'s ''[[The Devils of Loudun]]'': "I liked the enema scene. "
 * Favorite conductor – "[[Pierre Boulez]] gets my vote as king of craftsmanship. And he has no ego problems and isn't overly concerned about how he looks on the podium. ... This incredible eagerness of conductors to sell out on their looks is just a puny form of sex appeal."
 * Favorite symphony – none

@@ Line 131: / Line 131: @@
 * Favorite composers – 1. [[Edgard Varèse|Edgar Varèse]], 2. [[Anton Webern]]
 * Unfavorite composers – 1. [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], 2. [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], 3. "the ones everybody else loves"
-* Favorite opera – [[Krzysztof Penderecki|Penderecki]]'s ''[[Die Teufel von Loudun|The Devils of Loudon]]'': "I liked the enema scene. "
+* Favorite opera – [[Krzysztof Penderecki|Penderecki]]'s ''[[The Devils of Loudon]]'': "I liked the enema scene. "
 * Favorite conductor – "[[Pierre Boulez]] gets my vote as king of craftsmanship. And he has no ego problems and isn't overly concerned about how he looks on the podium. ... This incredible eagerness of conductors to sell out on their looks is just a puny form of sex appeal."
 * Favorite symphony – none

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 "Varèse's harmonic concept doesn't resemble anybody else's. He creates substances rather than chords. He uses chemical concepts. The type of tension his harmonies create are like isotopic combinations. Some stable. Some unstable – highly volatile and about to explode. It gets into the field of psychoacoustics, really.
-"Take the interval of the third, for instance. When you hear it, it carries a message to your brain and produces uncontrollable emotional responses, some of which are predictable and some of which aren't understood yet. [[Edgard Varèse|Varèse]] had the audacity to put these things down. The real thwarting and tweezing (of natural harmonic progressions) have only been done by Varèse and [[Anton Friedrich Ernst von Webern|Webern]]."
+"Take the interval of the third, for instance. When you hear it, it carries a message to your brain and produces uncontrollable emotional responses, some of which are predictable and some of which aren't understood yet. [[Edgard Varèse|Varèse]] had the audacity to put these things down. The real thwarting and tweezing (of natural harmonic progressions) have only been done by Varèse and [[Anton Webern|Webern]]."
 '''After this discussion of the mechanics of music, I asked Zappa if he has different attitudes toward writing classical music and popular music.'''<br>

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-Because he's coming to Columbus. Because someone had to do it. That should answer the obvious question, in case you thought a classical music critic was not the most likely person in Columbus to interview [[Frank Zappa]]. Aside from the letter Z and a certain similarity in hairstyle, the commonalities aren't exactly obvious.
+Because he's coming to Columbus. Because someone had to do it. That should answer the obvious question, in case you thought a classical music critic was not the most likely person in Columbus to interview [[Biography|Frank Zappa]]. Aside from the letter Z and a certain similarity in hairstyle, the commonalities aren't exactly obvious.
 Unless, that is, you've been following Zappa's career for the past few years. For one thing, he has given up touring as a rock-rhythm-and-blues-jazz musician / social commentator / buffoon, or whatever designation you put on him as a performer. Maybe just guitarist.
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 "I saw some music and I liked the way it looked and set out to draw it. ... My formal education is a little skimpy. What I know is mostly from reading books I got out of the library. But I think that's good, if you want to be a composer. If you do go to school, you end up picking up the habits of your teachers."
-Zappa, who also plays some percussion and keyboards, discovered the music of [[Edgar Varèse|Varèse]] at 15. The experimental French composer still is his idol.
+Zappa, who also plays some percussion and keyboards, discovered the music of [[Edgard Varèse|Varèse]] at 15. The experimental French composer still is his idol.
 "Varèse's harmonic concept doesn't resemble anybody else's. He creates substances rather than chords. He uses chemical concepts. The type of tension his harmonies create are like isotopic combinations. Some stable. Some unstable – highly volatile and about to explode. It gets into the field of psychoacoustics, really.
-"Take the interval of the third, for instance. When you hear it, it carries a message to your brain and produces uncontrollable emotional responses, some of which are predictable and some of which aren't understood yet. [[Edgar Varèse|Varèse]] had the audacity to put these things down. The real thwarting and tweezing (of natural harmonic progressions) have only been done by Varèse and [[Anton Friedrich Ernst von Webern|Webern]]."
+"Take the interval of the third, for instance. When you hear it, it carries a message to your brain and produces uncontrollable emotional responses, some of which are predictable and some of which aren't understood yet. [[Edgard Varèse|Varèse]] had the audacity to put these things down. The real thwarting and tweezing (of natural harmonic progressions) have only been done by Varèse and [[Anton Friedrich Ernst von Webern|Webern]]."
 '''After this discussion of the mechanics of music, I asked Zappa if he has different attitudes toward writing classical music and popular music.'''<br>
@@ Line 129: / Line 129: @@
 * Favorite pop group – none
 * First performance – 1955 in San Diego as drummer in an R&B band; "I forgot my drum sticks."
-* Favorite composers – 1. [[Edgar Varèse]], 2. [[Anton Webern]]
+* Favorite composers – 1. [[Edgard Varèse|Edgar Varèse]], 2. [[Anton Webern]]
 * Unfavorite composers – 1. [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], 2. [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], 3. "the ones everybody else loves"
 * Favorite opera – [[Krzysztof Penderecki|Penderecki]]'s ''[[Die Teufel von Loudun|The Devils of Loudon]]'': "I liked the enema scene. "

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:21, 17 November 2020
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	[[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]		[[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]
		+	[[Category:1983]]

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 * Hits, honors – ''Don't Eat the Yellow Snow,'' 1979; ''Valley Girl,'' 1982; Pop Musician of the Year by ''Downbeat'' magazine 1970, 1971, 1972
 * Favorite orchestra – the ''Chicago Symphony''
 * Favorite pop group – none
 * First performance – 1955 in San Diego as drummer in an R&B band; "I forgot my drum sticks."
-* Favorite composers – 1. Edgar Varèse, 2. Anton Webern
+* Favorite composers – 1. [[Edgar Varèse]], 2. [[Anton Webern]]
-* Unfavorite composers – 1. Mozart, 2. [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], 3. "the ones everybody else loves"
+* Unfavorite composers – 1. [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], 2. [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], 3. "the ones everybody else loves"
-* Favorite opera – [[Krzysztof Penderecki|Penderecki]]'s ''The Devils of Loudon'': "I liked the enema scene. "
+* Favorite opera – [[Krzysztof Penderecki|Penderecki]]'s ''[[Die Teufel von Loudun|The Devils of Loudon]]'': "I liked the enema scene. "
-* Favorite conductor – "Pierre Boulez gets my vote as king of craftsmanship. And he has no ego problems and isn't overly concerned about how he looks on the podium. ... This incredible eagerness of conductors to sell out on their looks is just a puny form of sex appeal."
+* Favorite conductor – "[[Pierre Boulez]] gets my vote as king of craftsmanship. And he has no ego problems and isn't overly concerned about how he looks on the podium. ... This incredible eagerness of conductors to sell out on their looks is just a puny form of sex appeal."
 * Favorite symphony – none
 * Unfavorite symphony – Mendelssohn's ''Scotch Symphony''