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Composition No. 186 (1996)
| composer |
Anthony Braxton (b. 1945) |
| performers |
Cygnus Ensemble:
Tara Helen O'Connor, flute
Jacqueline Leclair, oboe
Oren Fader, guitar
William Anderson, guitar
Jacqui Carrasco, violin
John Whitfield, cello |
| affiliation |
BMI |
| label |
CRI 834http://www.newworldrecords.org
|
| duration |
12:20 |
Braxton's Composition No. 186 is part of his "Ghost-Trance" series of pieces, which are characterized by uniform rhythms or textures over long spans of time. In this work, the constant single-line rhythm becomes a backdrop for the performers' own inflections and improvisations, thereby achieving a kind of collaboration between composer and ensemble.
Saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer Anthony Braxton (b. 1945) has developed a musical style which synthesizes jazz and contemporary art music through extensions of instrumental and compositional techniques. His influences include jazz improvisers Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Paul Desmond, and composers John Cage, Charles Ives, and Harry Partch.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Braxton studied jazz and classical music at the Chicago School of Music, and after army service, philosophy and composition at Roosevelt University. He joined the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and in 1967 formed a trio eventually called the Creative Construction Company, which performed and recorded in New York City and Paris, France. Braxton returned to New York in 1970, joined the Italian ensemble Musica Elettronica Viva and the free jazz quartet Circle with Chick Corea. Among the first albums for unaccompanied saxophone was Braxton's two-LP set For Alto, recorded in 1969. He began to present solo and quartet concerts with a variety of performers, and performed and recorded in the mid-1970's with Derek Bailey and Company in London, England and the Globe Unity Orchestra in Germany.
Braxton began teaching at Mills College in Oakland, California in 1985; the same year he formed a long-standing quartet with pianist Marilyn Crispell, bass player Mark Dresser, and drummer Gerry Hemingway. Since 1990 Braxton has taught at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He received a MacArthur Foundation award in 1994, through which he established the Tri-Centric Foundation, devoted to performing his multimedia and interdiscplinary compositions, and the record label Braxton House. Braxton has written essays and books on a wide array of subjects; the multi-volume Tri-Axium Writings (1985) and Composition Notes A-E (1988) focus specifically on his compositions and the musical traditions in which he works. Braxton's discography includes over 200 recordings on dozens of record labels.
related websites
http://www.wesleyan.edu/music/braxton
The New York-based Cygnus Ensemble's core instrumentation of two guitars, flute, oboe, violin and cello is inspired by the 17th-century 'broken consort.' The ensemble has been active in commissioning many new works by American composers; their debut CD on the CRI label features commissioned pieces by Chester Biscardi, Anthony Braxton, Sebastian Currier, Charles Wuorinen, among others. Over 30 pieces have been written for or premiered by the ensemble. In recent seasons, the ensemble has performed in Holland, Denmark, Poland, and Russia, including a week-long residency in the new music festival 'Europe/Asia' in Kazan, Tatarstan Republic. Cygnus was also a featured ensemble at the 1998 Festival of New American Music at California State University at Sacramento; they returned to California in 2000 for concerts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and at San Francisco State University. Cygnus has been the recipient of numerous grants, including awards from the New York State Council on the Arts, Chamber Music America, Aaron Copland Fund, American Composers Forum, and the Koussevitsky Music Foundation of the Library of Congress. In 2000, the ensemble was awarded First Prize in the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming.
related websites
http://www.cygnusensemble.org
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