Wild love (cd)

Frank and Francesco. It all began with a misunderstanding. In the early 1980s Frank Zappa came across an entry on "Zappa" in the New Grove Dictionary, only to discover it concerned an obscure 18th-century Milanese composer of almost the same name. Convinced he had found an ancestor, Frank investigated Francesco Zappa and in 1984 devoted an entire album to him (his 42nd) — saving him from oblivion and, as he proudly noted, producing his first recording in over 200 years.

Some forty years later, that misunderstanding inspired this Il Pomo d'Oro project: a recording adventure bringing together Francesco's galant music, Frank's “contemporary” works for string quintet, and some original compositions, where all hierarchies are abandoned. Giovanni Sollima, a native of Palermo like Frank's family, brings his own sound world in dialogue with both Zappas.

Vanni Moretto, a Milanese like Francesco and a leading expert on 18th-century Milanese music, imagines a posthumous revenge: what if Francesco had rewritten Frank's music? He does precisely that, composing a sinfonia concertante to match Francesco's own. On Wild Love the two friends serve Francesco entirely — Giovanni Sollima as cellist, Vanni Moretto as music director — ensuring that Francesco Zappa is at last rediscovered, restored, and no longer anyone's phantom.