ORCHESTRAL FAVORITES

Presenting the results of a 1975 concert in which Frank Zappa once again attempted to coax an orchestra into playing his classically composed pieces, Orchestral Favorites succeeds rather better than the orchestral numbers on 200 Motels. In particular, Zappa's hand-picked orchestra proves to be rather more willing to work in non-traditional instruments to their performance, which spices things up appreciably. However, at the end of the day they still make the compositions sound heavy, leaden and ponderous, when they should be light, energetic and free-flowing. Ultimately, I think of all the attempts to capture Zappa's orchestral works over the years, only The Yellow Shark really succeeded, and Orchestral Favorites does nothing to change my mind on that score.