BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Ilan Volkov - Zappa, Anderson, Ives (2018)

A concert recording from the Glasgow City Halls a year and a half ago, which I picked up when it was given a recent re-broadcast.  The focus on Zappa for the promotional material (like the image above) might seem a bit off-target when you realise his music only takes up the first 13 minutes of the concert, but regardless, it's great to hear The Perfect Stranger performed live.  Originally conducted by Pierre Boulez for the album of the same name in 1984, the evocation of a sleazy vacuum cleaner salesman is in good hands with Ilan Volkov and the BBC SSO.

So what music would be ideal to pair with Zappa, to make up the main meat of a concert?  Varèse might be the obvious thought, but here we get Charles Ives' New England Holidays, which is also a great choice.  Written over a few years as four individual pieces, the movements are intended to evoke memories of childhood holidays, and do so in grand style.  Programmed in between Zappa and Ives is British composer Julian Anderson's piano concerto The Imaginary Museum, which the SSO/Volkov originally premiered in 2017.  Written as a virtual world tour, it sounds fantastic and makes me want to hear more by Anderson.  More Ives coming next week.

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