By Don Phipps
There’s always a cutting edge feel to the music of Anthony Braxton, and 2 Comp (2023) released last year is no exception. What is most engaging in Braxton’s efforts here are the dense and dissonant chords that overflow with subtle but edgy excitement.
Take 'Composition 445', the album’s first track. Braxton explores a kind of counterpoint in his bass lines as sax and trombones race along. The result is a feeling one might experience on a train going through a tunnel – an almost aural red shift effect. The piece, however, is not hot. For the most part it is a subdued kind of jumble – like a morning at the office where everyone is just starting their workday. Like recent projects, Braxton continues his use of vocals. Here they sound almost Ligeti-like and produce an escalator-like effect in tandem with the instruments – a movement of up and down. The music bubbles and rumbles, contrasting starkly with the rapid tonguing technique used by some members of the orchestra.
Braxton is not shy about using tried and true techniques like “call and response.” On 'Composition 445', the saxophones respond to trumpet blatts with short squeak bursts. And, like traffic in a city – the orchestra at times roars, and its proximity jars the senses. Braxton also employs strange combinations of instruments, for example – trombones interacting with a bassoon. The piece stretches like a rubber band – as if one were nearing an event horizon of a black hole. Trombones and bassoon, accordion interludes, woodwind notes that bounce like basketballs – it’s Braxtonian jumbled cubist creativity at its best.
The musicians on 'Composition 445' are: Accordion – Andreas Borregaard; Alto Saxophone – Anthony Braxton; Alto Saxophone, Sopranino Saxophone – James Fei; Bassoon – Katherine Young; Double Bass – Carl Testa, George Cremaschi; Trombone – Reut Regev, Roland Dahinden; Trumpet – William Forman; Voice – Andreas Halling, Anne Rhodes, Fabienne Seveillac, Juliet Fraser, Lisa Willems, Nick Hallett, Stepan Janousek.
'Composition No. 446 (Combination Music)' is equally engaging if not more intense. There’s a nightmarish feel to the odd harmonics and dissonance. Like ocean waves, the ensemble surges and then backs off; dynamic contrasts or other-worldly effects are followed by silence. It feels like pointillism in art - the elements of the number (tone, rhythm, color, techniques) singular, yet when combined, create a holistic effect. Abstractions seem to float in the air – through turbulence to slight breezes, and everything in between. The work dances and swirls about but at times feels uneasy – a kind of menace just beneath the surface.
As on more recent albums, Braxton’s prefers sonics that clash – take the electric guitar in an orchestra-ish setting. A piano line evokes impressionism while the polyrhythmic nature of the work give rise to dits and dots, slipping and sliding arcs, trilling, and exhortations from the vocalists. Braxton’s unusual gift for dissonant tone clusters is also on full display. The music moves sideways, up, down, and then sideways again – a kind of circular rotation that provokes and intrigues and keeps things very unsettled.
The musicians on 'Composition No. 446' are: Clarinet – Dafni Mengou, Rebecca Minten, Tadashi Lewis; Conductor – Anthony Braxton, Katherine Young, Kobe Van Cauwenberghe; Double Bass – Pablo Jimenez (7); Electric Bass – Paul Steinbeck; Flute – Luciana Perc, Maral Yerbol, Marianne Sihvonen, Seraina Ramseier; Guitar – Alec Goldfarb, Aleksey Potapov, Leonardo Melchionda, Orestis Tsekouras; Oboe – Aleksandra Panasik; Percussion – Aditya Ryan Bhat, Orson Abram; Piano – Jennifer Mong (2), Qi Qu; Trombone – Kalun Leung, Vasily Ratmansky; Trumpet – Émilie Fortin; Viola – Alison Eom, Aruzhan Abilseit, Christoven Tan; Violin – Ana Luisa Diaz de Cossio, Mac Waters, Paolo Vuono; Violoncello – Audreanne Filion, Clara Dietze, Jun Sian Chee, Laurence Gaudreau, Tord Bremnes; Voice – Elizabeth Gartman, Maria Morfeo.
With 2 Comp (2023), Braxton has once more provided another stellar illustration of his “creative” music. His expert ability to juxtapose instrumental voicings to create elaborate structures is in full evidence. Those who open this door, will find a path leading to the subconscious, the heavens, and the elemental. Enjoy!
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