FRANK ZAPPA: “THE PERFECT STRANGER AND OTHER...

FRANK ZAPPA: “THE PERFECT STRANGER AND OTHER CHAMBER WORKS.” Pierre Boulez conducting Ensemble InterContemporain and the Barking Pumpkin Digital Gratification Consort. EMI/Angel compact disc CDC 7 47125 2. It’s time to take Zappa as seriously as most of us take Satie or Varese. Boulez does. He commissioned the abrasive, immensely clever 13-minute title work about a dog sitting in a high chair watching a vacuum-cleaner salesman and his mistress, a slovenly housewife. It’s only one of seven dances arranged for a small orchestra. There’s the outrageous “Girl in the Magnesium Dress” who kills men with her metal dress while dancing with them. “Jonestown” uses a hypnotically slow theme that will either drive you crazy or sane depending on your frame of mind. What all of these pieces demonstrate is that Zappa is an inventive, witty composer whose music creates enormous tension while fulfilling the strange obligations of his programs. The digital sound captures it all too vividly in music made for the new CD medium.