The material on this album originally was intended to be part of a four-record set called Läther, prepared for release in 1977.
Then Frank Zappa got into a disagreement with his record company, Warner Bros., and Läther was split up into several different releases as part of a contractual agreement.
The results were dumped on the market during 1978 and 1979, while Zappa moved on to his own record label.
Orchestral Favorites consists of material recorded on September 17 and 18, 1975, with a 37-piece orchestra, and includes such familiar Zappa themes as "Duke of Prunes" (from Absolutely Free) and "Strictly Genteel" (from 200 Motels); "Bogus Pomp" also consisted largely of 200 Motels music.
The themes are melodic and often majestic, with various startling juxtapositions and changes.
This was the first release of Zappa orchestral material since Lumpy Gravy and a precursor of things to come.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strictly GenteelFrank Zappa | Frank Zappa | Play | 07:03 | 16 MB | 43 MB |
| 2 | Pedro's DowryFrank Zappa | Frank Zappa | Play | 07:41 | 17 MB | 43 MB |
| 3 | Duke of PrunesFrank Zappa | Frank Zappa | Play | 04:20 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 4 | Bogus PompFrank Zappa | Frank Zappa | Play | 13:28 | 30 MB | 79 MB |
| 5 | Naval Aviation in Art | Frank Zappa | Play | 01:22 | 3 MB | 6 MB |
| 33 mins | 77 MB | |||||
| 33 mins | 201 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Terry Bozzio | Drums |
| 2 | Stephen Marcussen | Digital EQ |
| 3 | Gary Panter | Design |
| 4 | Dave Parlato | Bass |
| 5 | Emil Richards | Percussion |
| 6 | Bob Stone | Digital EQ, Digital Remastering |
| 7 | Frank Zappa | Composer, Guitar, Keyboards, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |