I just purchased and started listening to a CD of Pierre Boulez conducting on some compositions by Varese. I immediately recognized some rather familiar gestures: they’re all over “The Yellow Shark.” Has anybody else noticed this? I am loathe to say that Zappa was totally unoriginal; I think he has contributed some interesting pieces of his own (particularly G-Spot Tornado), but I’m surprised at how certain snips of Varese seem to have been lifted whole.
Well, Zappa cited Varese by name many times in interviews. The liner notes to one of his early albums had a Varese quote: “The modern composer refuses to die.” This is not a shocking revelation.
Indeed. Zappa also was known to lift phrases from his other classical hero, Stravinsky. Quite deliberate and nothing he was in the least bit shy about - far as I know he considered it the sincerest form of flattery.
- Tamerlane
“Plastic People” established his feelings about the ethical dilemma of sampling; he was okay with it. (“Plastic People” was basically the same tune as “Louie Louie.”)