| For Four Orchestras | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Anthony Braxton |
| Cover: | For Four Ochestras.jpg |
| Released: | 1978 |
| Recorded: | May 18 & 19, 1978 |
| Venue: | Hall Auditorium Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH |
| Genre: | Jazz, contemporary classical music |
| Length: | 114:30 |
| Label: | Arista A3L 8900 |
| Producer: | Michael Cuscuna |
| Chronology: | Anthony Braxton |
| Prev Title: | Creative Orchestra (Köln) 1978 |
| Prev Year: | 1978 |
| Next Title: | Birth and Rebirth |
| Next Year: | 1978 |
For Four Orchestras is an album by American jazz saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton, recorded in 1978 and 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. The album is dedicated to Eileen Southern.[4]
Composition No. 82 for four orchestras was part of a planned series of multi-orchestral pieces which was to include a work for 100 orchestras in four cities, followed by even more ambitious works for orchestras on different planets, and in different star systems and galaxies.[5] Braxton stated that he was "profoundly inspired" by Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gruppen and Carré, as well as by the works of Iannis Xenakis,[6] but also acknowledged the influence of Kansas City jazz of the 1920s and 1930s.[7] He recalled: "There has always been something special about the reality of different ensembles making music in the same physical universe space that has excited my imagination. It is as if the whole of the universe were swallowed up–leaving us in a sea of music and color.
Braxton described Composition No. 82 as having to do with "the factoring of distance," and stated that his goal was to "create a sound environment like star systems."[8] The orchestras are placed in corners of the auditorium, arranged at different levels, with the audience situated in the middle, and both the musicians and the audience sit on swivel chairs. The four conductors are linked by television monitors, which are also used by the musicians when they are asked to swivel away from their group's conductor.[9]
The recording took place at Oberlin Conservatory, and involved student musicians with four faculty members as conductors.[10] The project presented a number of challenges, ranging from the need to copy 160 parts plus four conductor scores, to the process of having to assemble nearly a thousand brief recorded segments in order to construct a master tape. In the end, only two-thirds of the work was recorded, and Braxton eliminated another thirty minutes in order to maintain sound quality on the LPs.
The AllMusic review by Brian Olewnick stated: "the results don't live up to expectations. 'Composition 82' is written in an extremely dry academic style with little differentiation of its course... 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".
Reviewing the rereleased recordings for All About Jazz, Clifford Allen observed "The work moves in cycles based around single chords... there is an affinity for instrumental flurries presenting themselves in relation to a steady and central pulse... 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".[11]
Writing for Point of Departure, Art Lange called the piece "a remarkable, audacious, dazzling, dizzying achievement," and praised its "epic scope." In a review of the 2008 reissue, he commented: "While it still requires a serious commitment on the part of the listener, 40 years of Braxton's music have prepared us to hear For Four Orchestras in a new light, and recognize its value in a broader context than was previously possible."[12]
All compositions by Anthony Braxton.
| 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 Severance 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 Shapiro 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 |