Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger

The Perfect Stranger is a 1984 album featuring the music of Frank Zappa, conducted in part by Pierre Boulez. It was originally issued on vinyl in 1984 and on CD in 1985 by Angel, and then in remixed and resequenced form on CD by Barking Pumpkin in 1992. Later reissues (of the same master) were by Rykodisc in 1995 and Zappa/Universal in 2012.

Boulez conducted three tracks ("The Perfect Stranger", "Naval Aviation in Art?" and "Dupree's Paradise"), recorded at IRCAM, Paris on January 10 and January 11, 1984, and performed by Boulez's Ensemble InterContemporain. The title track was also commissioned by Boulez, and contains references to Zappa's 1971 film, 200 Motels. The remaining four tracks are credited to 'The Barking Pumpkin Digital Gratification Consort'—in fact, Zappa's Synclavier. "Outside Now Again" is a Synclavier performance based on a transcription of Zappa's guitar solo in the song "Outside Now" from the 1979 Joe's Garage album.

The track "Jonestown" is a reference to the 1978 Jonestown massacre in Guyana, where cult leader Jim Jones drove his followers to collective suicide.

Track listing

 * All compositions by Frank Zappa.

Different track timings are probably due to mislisting. There are no reports of tracks being longer or shorter on the original vinyl.

Personnel

 * Pierre-Laurent Aimard – Piano
 * Guy Arnaud – Clarinet (Bass)
 * Lawrence Beauregard – Flute
 * Pierre Boulez – Conductor, Direction
 * Daniel Ciampolini – Percussion
 * Antoine Curé – Trumpet
 * Ensemble InterContemporain – Orchestra
 * Péter Eötvös – Musical Director
 * Jacques Ghestem – Violin
 * Garth Knox – Viola
 * Don Hunstein – Photography
 * Marie-Claire Jamet – Harp
 * The London Symphony Orchestra
 * John Matousek – Mastering
 * Paul Meyer – Clarinet
 * Jérôme Naulais – Trombone
 * David Ocker – Programming
 * Bob Stone – Remixing
 * Frank Zappa – Synclavier, Producer, Liner Notes