ANTHONY BRAXTON - Trillium R : Composition 162 - An Opera in Four Acts / Shala Fears for the Poor (1999) 4CD | FLAC (tracks), lossless

So why is this so important? How can a guy like Braxton, who writes constantly, get a high mark on his first outing? Simple -- with the exception of Anthony Davis, who wrote Malcolm X, no one from the jazz side of the fence has attempted such a complete attempt to embrace the world of Western classical music so thoroughly. (Yes, forget Blood on the Fields, it's a jazz oratorio according to its composer.) And it deems that Braxton is the only one who can be counted -- if this opera, the first of 36 by the year 2020 if the composer lives that long and lives up to his word (is there any doubt?), is any example -- to have his work be worthy of comparison to the works of Webern, Berg, and Schoenberg, not to mention Morton Feldman and John Cage. Compared to his jazz work, Composition No. 162 -- An Opera in Four Acts/Shala Fears for the Poor (dedicated to Nelson Mandela) is far from dense compared to his jazz quartet, quintet, and orchestra work. The opera is performed by nine singers and a full symphony orchestra who has among its membership instrumental soloists like clarinetist Chris Speed, flutists Ned Rothenberg and Rob Brown, and violinist Sara Parkins. All of the operas in the Trillium series will have three primary levels spread throughout their acts and scenes: an "apparent story," which is a narrative that can be appreciated more or less for what it seems to say; a set of "philosophical associations" that make the work refer outside itself into the world of ideas; and finally, "the mystical or spiritual fundamental that underlines each setting," in other words, an allegory -- noh or kabuki theater anyone? The narrative in Shala is a long, drawn-out, rhetorical narrative involving the marketing of products and productions to the masses, specifically to the lower classes. These products are everything from food to loans, all of them created to extract a maximum of profit regardless of damage. Certainly there is a preaching to the converted here, with a plot as concerned with the obvious as the face of our culture. But Braxton -- through his use of color, shape, texture, and above all intersecting musical and dramatic dynamics -- cuts through and makes his dialogue enter into the imagination, where the listener extrapolates her or his own experience and places it firmly in the operatic sequence of events. The smarminess of the Board of Directors and the under-sung plaintive wail of Shala are downright moving. The interplay of the strings with the solo voices and horns and percussion creating mysterious shapes underneath, filling out scenarios and sub-plots, is masterful. Yes, it does seem as if there is a bit of the overly dramatic "snidely whiplash" in all of this, but isn't it that cynical anyway? That Braxton can overcome his temptation to preach at all is compelling (remember Schöenberg's similar taste of pulpit-climbing sin in Moses and Aaron?), as is his ability to lay everything at the altar of image (as his musicians paint them in the air next to the singers) in elongated modes of introverted harmonics and striated tonal linguistics. And after all, like all of Braxton's music, this opera, Shala Fears for the Poor, is about language and how it mediates and transcends images. Braxton is trying to transcend the language of the opera while using it for his own purposes. If this is where the future of opera is headed, if this is where it's language will ultimately be decided, then someone please give me a grammar book -- I'm in.
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Trillium R: Shala Fears For The Poor - Composition No. 162 (Opera In Four Acts)   
1-1    Act 1    1:03:05
2-1    Act 2    31:32
3-1    Act 3    39:20
4-1    Act 4    42:06
All Credits

ANTHONY BRAXTON - Six Compositions (Ghost Trance Music) 2001 (2004) 4CD | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Recorded about six years after his first ventures into ghost trance music, this sprawling, four-disc set shows significant advances in Braxton's conception of this territory, although it, in general, lacks some of the ecstatic quality of the earlier releases on Braxton House. While the general notion of a consistent pulse that defines ghostly trance music is present, the tempi are for the most part rather slow and march-like. This imparts something of a plodding quality to several of the works, acting against the nervous and pleasurable giddiness one derived from the prior albums. The pieces are arranged for a variety of ensembles, the number of members gradually decreasing from ten to two over the course of the set. In the 90-plus minute "Composition 286," the tentet allows Braxton to use the collage strategy he developed in the '80s with his classic quartet, that of interpolating earlier compositions into a performance. There's a lovely moment late in the piece where "Composition 23A," the gorgeous final track from his New York, Fall 1974 release, emerges from the dense ensemble work that's worth the price of the album. There is a certain looseness (or expansiveness) to the work that, oddly enough, ends up sounding very similar to some Sun Ra sides from the '60s. The remaining five compositions are scored for groups ranging from quintet to duo and what they lose in richness (not much, actually), they make up for in clarity of form. Here the individual contributions come to the fore and there's particularly exciting work from percussionist Gino Robair and guitarist John Shiurba. The latter, along with trumpeter Greg Kelley on the first track, provides fresh doses of non-idiomatic, free improvisation on the proceedings, an element that fits in beautifully with Braxton's larger conception but had previously been surprisingly under-represented. The pieces are considerably varied, even within the strict forms that Braxton has laid out as parameters; a standout is the extremely long and sinuous theme from "Composition 287" that winds its way through the space, probing odd nooks and crannies for the instrumentalists to explore at their leisure later on. The concluding duet (dedicated to Don Van Vliet) between Braxton and Shiurba is a marvel of intricacy, the composed lines intertwining delicately around each other, the improvised portions spinning off the central stems like curling tendrils. Six Compositions [GTM] 2001 is music of depth and imagination and showed that Braxton was still capable of discovering new and exciting territory more than three decades into his career. A must-have for his fans. Brian Olewnick  
Tracklist :
Composition No. 286 (+ 147, 20, 69D, 256, 173, 6J, 162, 23A)   
1-1    Part 1    24:02
1-2    Part 2    16:03
2-1    Part 3    32:30
2-2    Part 4    19:31
3-1    Composition No. 277 (+ 40L) 33:01
Contrabass – Matthew Sperry
Drums, Marimba, Vibraphone, Percussion, Percussion [Bowed Metals], Piano, Synthesizer, Electronics – Gino Robair
Guitar – John Shiurba
Sopranino Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone [F], Alto Saxophone [Eb], Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet [Eb Soprano, Bb, Contrabass] – Anthony Braxton
Sopranino Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Contrabass Clarinet, Flute – Scott Rosenberg
3-2    Composition No. 287 (+ 40D) 31:26
Contrabass – Matthew Sperry
Drums, Marimba, Vibraphone, Percussion, Percussion [Bowed Metals], Piano, Synthesizer, Electronics – Gino Robair
Guitar – John Shiurba
Sopranino Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Contrabass Clarinet, Flute – Scott Rosenberg
4-1    Composition No. 278 (+ 48) 18:59
Drums, Marimba, Vibraphone, Percussion, Percussion [Bowed Metals] – Gino Robair
Guitar – John Shiurba
Sopranino Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone [F], Alto Saxophone [Eb], Bass Saxophone, Contrabass Saxophone – Anthony Braxton
4-2    Composition No. 289 24:33
Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone – Jesse Gilbert
Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Justin Yang
Saxophone [C-melody], Baritone Saxophone – Dan Plonsey
Sopranino Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone [F], Alto Saxophone [Eb] – Anthony Braxton
4-3    Composition No. 195 18:26
Guitar – John Shiurba
Sopranino Saxophone – Anthony Braxton
Credits :
Alto Saxophone, Recorder [Soprano], Marimba – Jesse Gilbert (pistas: 1-1 to 2-2)
Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Flute, Violin, Viola – Justin Yang (pistas: 1-1 to 2-2)
Contrabass – Matthew Sperry (pistas: 1-1 to 2-2)
Drums, Marimba, Vibraphone, Percussion, Piano, Synthesizer, Electronics – Gino Robair (pistas: 1-1 to 2-2)
Guitar, Voice – John Shiurba (pistas: 1-1 to 2-2)
Saxophone [C-melody], Oboe, Clarinet, Clarinet [Turkish G], Recorder [Soprano], Marimba, Vibraphone – Dan Plonsey (pistas: 1-1 to 2-2)
Sopranino Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet [Contrabass], Flute, Voice – Scott Rosenberg (pistas: 1-1 to 2-2)
Trumpet, Trumpet [Pocket, Trumpbone], Flugelhorn, Performer [Shell], Recorder [Tenor], Marimba – Taylor Ho Bynum (pistas: 1-1 to 2-2)
Trumpet, Voice – Greg Kelley (pistas: 1-1 to 2-2)
Written-By, Sopranino Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone [F], Alto Saxophone [Eb], Baritone Saxophone, Bass Saxophone, Contrabass Saxophone, Clarinet [Eb Soprano, Bb], Contrabass Clarinet – Anthony Braxton (pistas: 1-1 to 2-2)

ANTHONY BRAXTON | GINO ROBAIR - Duets 1987 (1998) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Anthony Braxton's collaboration with composer/percussionist Gino Robair, Duets (1987), features pieces written by both musicians, separately and collaboratively. Braxton's and Robair's intricate, layered approaches to playing complement each other on this collection of innovative avant-jazz works, such as "Improvisation and Prelude" and "Ballad for the Children." Heather Phares
Tracklist :
1     Improvisation and Prelude 6:06
Anthony Braxton / Gino Robair    
2     Composition No. 86 12:05
Anthony Braxton    
3     Frictious Singularity 8:22
Anthony Braxton / Gino Robair    
4     Composition 40d (+96, +108b) 8:25
Anthony Braxton
5     Ballad for the Children (In Three Parts) 5:03
Anthony Braxton / Gino Robair
6     Composition No. 136 (+96) 7:02
Anthony Braxton
7     Decline of Reason 4:10
Gino Robair     
8     Counting Song 4:31
Gino Robair
Credits :
Percussion, Mastered By – Gino Robair
Saxophone [Saxophones] – Anthony Braxton