Nicolas Slonimsky on Frank Zappa

In these recorded comments by Slonimsky, his musical world (classical/avant garde) and that of Frank Zappa (popular/avant garde) came together primarily due to the publication of a book by Slonimsky on scales and harmonies that attracted Zappas attention. Slonimsky recounts his acceptance of an invitation by Zappa to play with his Rock Band. He also recounts how amazed he was when he observed Zappas scores for classical music which looked far out like something Edgar Varese would write, a composer who was admired by both Slonimsky and Zappa.

Recorded at Slonimsky's home in Los Angeles by Charles Amirkhanian in 1983.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Nicolas
• Slonimsky
• on
• Frank
• Zappa
• Charles
• Amirkhanian
• classical
• avant
• garde
• poular
• thesaurus
• of
• scales
• and
• melodic
• patterns
• Edgar
• Varese

[fevzl]

I hope I am as lucid and enthusiastic as Slonimsky at 89.

[j4unumber1]

Frank preferred to devote himself strictly to classical compositions, but he felt he could be more successful as a music artist dabbling in other genres. He was able to do this quite well also. A true original.

Overall, Frank Zappa is among the upper eschalon of sound artists of the 20th Century that most people probably never heard of.

Thank you GreggaryPeccary for the music you are offering.

[sankfinatra]

Great!!!!



[bnaior]

Mr. Slonimsky was the man with the plan in opening the concert world to modern music, specifically American composers. He conducted, produced...beat the pavements for $ to get all kinds of works heard for the 1st time in the 1920's.

Such a nice coda to a life lived furthering the arts; the world owes him a huge debt of gratitude...no one was making money , but he kept things going...Stravinsky, Ives, Carter and more.

[thekwaze]

Who would have thought at the time that he would outlive Zappa?

[BitterBosh]

Fun fact: Slominsky named his cat 'Grody-to-the-Max' after learning the phrase from Moon Zappa!

[GordonMorrice]

I revere Zappa. A truly great piece of meat, he was. Varese was the master musician eccentric par excellence, a John the Baptist of diatonic wildness. Schopenhauer was right:

MUSIC IS THE ANSWER TO THE MYSTERY OF LIFE.

[jocovo84]

Frank was certainly a genius!

[Mrochlin1]

This interview speaks volumes about the REAL Frank Zappa!

[DouglasWatts]

This is very nice. Due to Zappa I began listening to Edgard Varese as a teenager and really liked the music. The role of a musician as translator and bridge maker is underappreciated.

[312chicagoadam]

Absolute Genious.

[stanchinsky]

" music is one, with a capital o" ... perfect. Thank you for sharing this.