Francesco Zappa

Released: November 1984

Tracklist

OPUS I

  1. No. 1 1st Movement ANDANTE
  2. 2nd Movement ALLEGRO CON BRIO
  3. No. 2 1st Movement ANDANTINO
  4. 2nd Movement MINUETTO GRAZIOSO
  5. No. 3 1st Movement ANDANTINO
  6. 2nd Movement PRESTO
  7. No. 4 1st Movement ANDANTE
  8. 2nd Movement ALLEGRO
  9. No. 5 2nd Movement MINUETTO GRAZIOSO
  10. No. 6 1st Movement LARGO
  11. 2nd Movement MINUET

OPUS IV

    No. 1 1st Movement ANDANTINO
  1. 2nd Movement ALLEGRO ASSAI
  2. No. 2 2nd Movement ALLEGRO ASSAI
  3. No. 3 1st Movement ANDANTE
  4. 2nd Movement TEMPO DI MINUETTO
  5. No. 4 1st Movement MENUTETTO

Line-up
Performed by the Barking Pumpkin Digital Gratification Consort (Frank Zappa, Conductor)

6 thoughts on “Francesco Zappa”

  1. This IS NOT Frank Zappa’s music on the album. This is the music of FRANCESCO Zappa, a obscure 17th century composer that Gail Zappa discovered in the New Grove Dictionary Of Music. She entered a couple of his composistions into Frank’s computer, the synclavier. Frank heard them, and entered a few more, and all the avalible compositions were released as this album. Francesco Zappa is a amazing composer, and oddly enough, none of the composistions have the stereotypes of regular 17th and 18th century compositions, but has usual 17th and 18th century themes. Odd. Still, this is worth buying. This isn’t a good introduction to FRANK Zappa, seeing as it has none of his music, but it still is worth listening to at one point.

  2. WHy would FZ release this when he had so much of his own stuff waiting, unless it’s just one big joke?

  3. How can you say this album doesn’t contain frank Zappa’s music? I found it really strange, but really nice! And hasn’t sense to say it’s not a “good zappa
    introduction”, some says : “if you start with overnight or hot rats or apostrophe the rest will sound too dissonant to your ears” i think that
    every starting point it’s the right point. if a person isn’t able to stimulate and innovate is tastes, he doesn’t deserve Zappa’s music….
    peace!

  4. Felipe, I think what Isaac means is that Frank did not write the material on this album.

    ‘Francesco Zappa’ would be arguably the strangest introduction to FZ’s music, up there with ‘Jazz From Hell’ or ‘Just Another Band From LA.’

    Still, the music on it is beautiful.

  5. Yeah, this is a very odd release in many ways, but the music is actually quite nice. It is something to enjoy your 1st cup of coffee to, or to play at a
    holiday gathering…when someone asks what it is and you tell them it’s a Frank Zappa album, sort of, watching their reactions would be damn
    amusing!!

    I guess there is a version of one of these pieces with drums on it, but it was only put out on a boot, so I haven’t heard it. If the zft trust reads this,
    they should know that there is still an audience for the modern classical Zappa, and such a track as this one would be fine “filler” material!

  6. This is Frank having fun with his new toy, and finding out equally what a composer from ages ago with the exact same name wrote.

    So it is a cover tune album, the only all-cover tune album Frank ever released.

    “Crusing With Ruben and the Jets” kinda sounded like a cover tune album.

    But it wasn’t.

    The first reviewer in this list basically summed it up: This is NOT Frank Zappa music. If you want to know what the music of the only Frank Zappa to write music on the planet before the other Frank Zappa sounded like, give this one a spin.

    This would probaby be filed as a footnote to the Zappa catalog more than an essential release.

    But then again, if that was the case, why does Frank feature this album so often and in such an integrated fashion in his “Them or Us” book?

    Hummm……..Conceptual Continuity continues…….

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