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
Source	Rating
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

References