Carnegie Hall Concert Review

New York Times has a review of the American Composers Orchestra concert on Sunday afternoon at Carnegie Hall: “The arrangements, by Ali N. Askin, were true to the spirit of Zappa’s originals, and Mr. Sloane incited his players to turn them out with the energy they require. Here and there a listener missed some of the grit that Zappa and his band brought to the music, but particularly in the 20-minute “Greggery Peccary,” the spirit was intact. In that work David Moss was the narrator and adopted a style reminiscent of Zappa’s, if not a slavish imitation. Howard Bender sang and spoke the title role.”
(Thanks Bob!)

5 thoughts on “Carnegie Hall Concert Review”

  2. No, I did not have that good fortune. There was a fellow who commented here in January when Barry first mentioned this event. He was planning to attend. I’m looking forward to his review. I hope he was actually able to go.

  3. I was at the concert on Sunday..The first person I bumped into in the lobby of the hall was none other than Ed Palermo (Big Band),who was picking up his tix at the box office..I introduced myself to Ed and complimented him on his many Bottom Line performances…Carnegie Hall is a wonderful space with great acoustics..To see and hear orchestral music there is a thrill to say the least..I was sitting in the second tier on the left side above the orchestra..Sitting across from me in the first balcony was Gail,Diva and I believe Ahmet with some friends of the family..They appeared to really enjoy the performance of Frank’s works..I do have to disagree with the Times review in that I felt both Narrator David Moss and Vocalist Howard Bender (who was a replacement for the original Vocalist who was scheduled to perform)were a bit off with their interpretations of the piece..Mr Moss was at times over the top and very announcery with some of his parts and tried adding his own “Hip” approach to the material, which came off a bit forced at times ..Mr Bender obviously was very new to this material and it showed..He was behind (timing-wise) the orchestra at certain points ,and seemed a bit lost in the piece (but overall did a decent job,given his short prep time)…The background vocals were dubbed in which was a bit strange..The orchestra itself was wonderful and the pieces were performed exceptionally well..G-Spot,Uncle Meat,and the “Encore” Peaches were excellent..Amazing to see 50 or so classically trained musicians really go for it with Frank’s complex and difficult pieces..The Percussion section in particular was fantastic..At one point during the Greggary Peccary Steno Pool section,they all sat down and started playing seperate typewriters in perfect time! It was quite amusing..The Zappa’s seemed happy and touched by the American Composers Orchestra performance..as were all of us in the audience…I wouldn’t be suprised if Frank’s spirit was present watching the proceedings with some degree of bemusement and pride!…D.Skigen

  4. Thanks heaps, David. I knew you’d come through for us. Sounds like a great show, even if the vocals/narration weren’t quite there.

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