For Four Orchestras

For Four Orchestras
Studio album by Anthony Braxton
Released 1978
Recorded May 18 & 19, 1978 at the Hall Auditorium Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH
Genre Jazz, Contemporary classical music
Length 114:30
Label Arista A3L 8900
Producer Michael Cuscuna
Anthony Braxton chronology
Creative Orchestra (Köln) 1978
(1978)
For Four Orchestras
(1978)
Birth and Rebirth
(1978)

For Four Orchestras is an album by American jazz saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton recorded in 1978 and first released on the Arista label a triple LP.[1][2][3] The album features a composition by Braxton written for four separate orchestras recorded in quadraphonic sound which was subsequently rereleased on CD on The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton released by Mosaic Records in 2008.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[4]

The Allmusic review by Brian Olewnick awarded the album 1½ stars stating "Unfortunately, the results don't live up to expectations. "Composition 82" is written in an extremely dry academic style with little differentiation of its course. It is quite conceivable that a performance by a more polished orchestra or, better yet, one made up of creative improvisers would be a substantial improvement. And one must keep in mind that the piece is designed to place the audience in a central position, surrounded by the orchestras, and thus able to hear musical ideas and fragments tossed back and forth from one group to another. Still, the musical material itself sounds routinely dreary and uninspired, as if Braxton was declaring that he too could write music as sterile and vapid as his European contemporaries. One might more charitably, however, write this effort off as an interesting experiment that failed; ideas appear herein that would bear far more beautiful fruit in later works".[4] Reviewing the rereleased recordings for All About Jazz Clifford Allen observed "The work moves in cycles based around single chords, and though certainly a lot busier than Morton Feldman's later orchestral works, there is an affinity for instrumental flurries presenting themselves in relation to a steady and central pulse. Furthermore, though the number of musicians participating, one never gets the sense of an overbearing sonic weight. Rather, each orchestra operates as a separate but interactive living organism, conducted and arranged in specific relation to the others. ... Braxton's Four Orchestras expand a color field without pushing those colors too far out of the canvas' edges".[5]

Track listing

All compositions by Anthony Braxton

  1. "308M-64 / 30 / C4DM(R)- Z (For Four Orchestras) [Composition 82]" - 114:

Personnel

Instrument Orchestra I Orchestra II Orchestra III Orchestra IV
conductor Kenneth Moore Gene Young Robert Baustian Murray Gross
violin I Francine Swartzentruber
Shelley Fowle
Lilyn Graves
Lorraine Adel
Robert Scarrow
Barry Sargent
Zabeth Oechlin
Edward Shlasko
Steven Schuch
Audrey Hale
Karin von Gierke
Stanislav Branovicki
Susan Demetris
Monique Reid
Judith Bixler
Peter Jaffe
Diane Cooper
David Wilson
Pamela Stuckey
Mary Bolling
violin II Marriane Smith
Marcus Woo
Amorie Robinson
Jennifer Steiner
Kathy Blackwell
Lori Fay
Andra Marx
Alison Feuerwerker
Ellen Ziontz
Lauri Gutman
Sally Becker
Elizabeth Welch
Susan Brenneis
Julie Badger
Jane Moon
Shannon Simonson
Lynda Mapes
Margaret Morgan
Johnathan Dunn
Jennifer Doctor
viola Naomi Barlow
James Thomas
Sarah Bloom
Rachel Yurman
Amy Leventhal
Jeffery Durachta
Kathleen Elliott
Helen McDermott
Nanci Severence
David Rogers
Dee Ortel
Beth Thorne
Norin Saxe
Theodore Chemey
Alex Guroff
Igor Polisitsky
cello Steven Harrison
Elizabeth Warren
Suzanne Wijsman
Elizabeth Knowles
Tom Rosenberg
Steven Drake
Dawn Wilder
Sarah Binford
Carol Elliott
Aaron Henderson
Matthew Wexler
Michele McTeague
Kathy Kelly
Daniel Kazez
Carole Stipleman
Steven Wise
bass Mark Shapire
Suzanne Tarshis
Leon Dorsey
Michael Talbert
Robert Adair
Mikkel Jordan
Jeffrey Hill
Matthew McCauley
Jeffrey Soule
Arthur Kell
David Seckinger
Daniel Savage
flute and piccolo Celeste Johnson Leonard Garrison Betsy Adler Virginia Elliott
alto flute Joel Karr Wendy Tarnoff Adam Kuenzel Carol Goodwillow
clarinet Michael Zakim David Hostetler Bela Schwartz James Colbert
clarinet and E♭clarinet John Guest Marty Rossip David Bell Marta Schworm
bass clarinet Mark Gallagher Cynthia Douglass David Ballon Carol Robinson
oboe Pamela Hill Carolyn Hove James Hois Michael Harrison
English horn Cameron McClusky Giselle Lautenbach Bernard Gabis Claudia Patton
bassoon Allen Smith Ann Kosanovic Deanna Kory Mark Gross
trumpet John Bourque
David Driesen
Alan Campbell
Thomas Gotwals
Dave Rinaldi
Chris Kerrebrock
James Kirchenbauer
William Camp
trombone Robert Asmussen
Richard Ruotolo
Mark Kaiser
David Fogg
Ann Mondragon
David Stocklosa
Bradley Cornell
Kadie Nichols
Mark Adams
Brian Campbell
Eileen Jones
Erik Johnson
tuba Barry Jenson Brian Bailey Steven Box John Lomonaco
harp Cynthia Mowery Naomi Markus Nancy Lendrim Susan Kelly
percussion John Gardner
Andrew Collier
Stephen Pascher
David Wiles
John Kennedy
Philip Seeman
Galen Work
Gregg Linde
Victor Thomas
Andre Whatley
Charles Wood
Derek Davidson

References

  1. Anthony Braxton discography accessed March 17, 2015
  2. Filippo, R., Enciclopedia del Jazz: Anthony Braxton accessed November 3, 2016
  3. Anthony Braxton Project: 1971-1979 Chronology accessed November 7, 2016
  4. 1 2 Olewnick, Brian. For Four Orchestras – Review at AllMusic. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  5. Allen, C., Anthony Braxton: The Complete Arista Recordings - Review, All About Jazz, January 19, 2009
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