For more information about the Meridian Arts Ensemble, please contact us. Meridian Arts Ensemble: A Tribute to Frank Zappa by Allan Kozinn Frank Zappa's fascination with contemporary classical music is evident even in some of his early Mothers of Invention albums, and by the mid-1980's he was overseeing recordings of his own classical works as a sideline to his rock endeavors. The Meridian Arts Ensemble — a brass quintet, augmented on this occasion by piano and percussion — was taken with Zappa's music, and not long before his death in 1993 the group won his approval for its arrangements of several of his pieces. The group played those arrangements as a tribute to Zappa at Merkin Concert Hall on Wednesday evening. Included as well were works that Zappa found influential, by Gesualdo, Stravinsky and Conlon Nancarrow, along with Ira Taxin's pointillistic Brass Quintet (1973), which Zappa was known to admire. And there were scores by Stephen Barber and Don Van Vliet (better known as Captain Beefheart), musicians who worked with Zappa. It was a program with considerable appeal. Mr. Taxin's work, which opened it, quickly demonstrated the virtuosity of the ensemble's brass players: even the tuba lines, often the source of muddy intonation in brass groups, were cleanly and precisely articulated. Mr. Barber's "Semahane — Whirling Wall" (1993) was enlivened by a combination of vigorous, high-energy brass playing and delicate, almost Bachian pianism, supported by percussion writing that varied from the sparkling to the explosive. Helena Bugallo, a pianist, gave an agile reading of Nancarrow's spare-textured but rhythmically tricky "Canon A for Ursula." And Stravinsky was represented by the brief "Fanfare for New Theater" (1964) and "Fanfare" (1953), works that were juxtaposed with arrangements of two 17th-century madrigals by Gesualdo, the only works in which the group's intonation began to flag. The ensemble was at its best in two works by Mr. Van Vliet — "A Carrot Is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond" and "Suction Prints" — and the three Zappa scores. Rhythmically and harmonically both composers threw more than a few curves, but what gave this music its irresistible appeal was a freewheeling combination of sensibilities that included rock, jazz, 1920's pop and modernist classicism as well as a measure of sheer zaniness. The musicians were Jon Nelson and Brian McWhorter, trumpeters; Daniel Grabois, hornist; Benjamin Herrington, trombonist; Raymond Stewart, tuba player; John Ferrari, percussionist; and Ms. Bugallo. top of page This website and all content copyright © 2006 Meridian Arts Ensemble