Four Systems by Earle Brown

Four Systems

Four distinct realizations of Earle Brown’s celebrated
1954 graphic score

Four Systems is an early work in Earle Brown’s development of open-form composition, notated through graphic means rather than fixed musical prescription. This recording presents four distinct realizations, each tracing a different structural path through the score’s visual architecture.

The work may be performed by any number of musicians and for any agreed duration. Its unfolding depends on moment-to-moment decisions by the performers, individually and collectively. Each realization emerges through interpretation and interaction, guided by the score’s spatial design rather than conventional notation.

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Reviews

Fanfare Magazine

5 stars: Bickerton’s creativity gives new life, or lives, to Earle Brown’s indeterminate classic. A must-hear for the adventurous!

Bickerton’s imagination opens new worlds—four, in fact—and I think listeners with a taste for exploration will enjoy immersing themselves and disappearing in the sonic textures that Bickerton and Brown have created here. Outstanding sound, too—put your headphones on and you might swear that your physical head has disappeared.
Raymond Tuttle, Fanfare Magazine 3/3/2026

Four Systems – What is a graphic score?

Earle Brown's graphic score, Four Systems

Earle Brown’s Four Systems (1954) is among the earliest and most influential examples of graphic notation in American experimental music. Rather than prescribing specific pitches, rhythms, or instrumental forces, the score presents four rectangular systems populated with lines and shapes that suggest relative relationships of high and low, long and short, loud and soft. Time is not fixed; sequence is flexible; cause and effect are left to the performer’s judgment. In this way, Four Systems abandons the score as a set of instructions to be executed and instead proposes it as a field for action.

Strongly influenced by abstract expressionist painting and the idea of mobility in visual art, Brown conceived the work as a space through which performers move, making real-time decisions about duration, density, instrumentation, and form. The responsibility placed on the performer is central: interpretation becomes composition, and each realization constitutes a unique instance of the piece rather than a variation on a definitive original.

Despite its openness, Four Systems retains a clear identity. Its balance of restraint and freedom produces a distinctive tension between structure and spontaneity, precision and indeterminacy.

More than seventy years after its creation, the score remains a living document—one that continues to challenge performers to listen deeply, act decisively, and accept uncertainty as a fundamental musical condition.

Album Notes

Four Systems (No. 1 Ensemble)
Four Systems (No. 1) is performed by Agata Manka (violin), David Gould (bass clarinet), and John Bickerton (cymbals, gongs, chimes, bells, Rhodes electric piano, melodica with ring modulation, and wave drum). In this realization, the score is read left to right, following systems 1 through 4 as they appear on the page. Each system unfolds over three minutes, forming a twelve-minute structure, with the final sounds allowed to fade naturally. Instrument choices for each sound event were determined through random processes, allowing chance to shape the work’s shifting timbral landscape.
Four Systems (No. 2 Feedback)
Four Systems (No. 2) is performed by John Bickerton using cymbals and gongs, expanded through shortwave radio broadcasts and ring modulation. The cymbal setup includes a 20” ride with sizzle, an 18” medium crash, and an 18” China, while the gongs—a 22” Chinese Wind Gong and a 22” Lunar Flare Gong—are fitted with contact microphones. The placement of the contact microphones allowed amplifier feedback to emerge naturally, becoming an integral part of the sound world. The score was divided into two simultaneous layers: the cymbals articulate systems 3 and 4, while the gongs perform systems 1 and 2. Each system unfolds over five minutes, creating a ten-minute structure, with the final resonance allowed to decay naturally, bringing the total duration to 10:22.
Four Systems (No. 3 Prepared Guitar)
Four Systems (No. 3) is performed by John Bickerton on a prepared acoustic guitar, altered with pencils, wooden dowels, paper clips, and a large screw. The instrument is activated using Superball mallets, a cello bow, a bass bow, and an EBow, expanding its resonance and timbral range. Portions of the performance are shaped through high- and low-pass filtering. In this realization, the score is read in sequence—systems 1 through 4—but each system is rotated 180 degrees, subtly reorienting its gestures. Each system unfolds over two and a half minutes, resulting in a total duration of ten minutes.
Four Systems (No. 4 Electronic)
Four Systems (No. 4) is realized through programming on an ARP/Behringer 2600 synthesizer, augmented by additional electronics, delay, ring modulation, and filtering. Pitch and timbre are determined through chance operations. Each system is divided into four frequency regions—high, mid-high, mid-low, and low—drawn from a limited pitch set of E, F#, G, and C#. A palette of thirty-two timbres, ranging from single waveforms to complex combinations and noise-based textures, was developed and selected through random processes. The score is read in sequence—Line 1 rotated 180°, Line 2 as printed, followed by Lines 3 and 4 each rotated 180°. Each system unfolds over three minutes, forming a twelve-minute structure.

About the Composer

Earle Brown (1926–2002) was an American composer and a central figure in the postwar experimental music movement. Associated with John Cage, Morton Feldman, and Christian Wolff, Brown pioneered open-form composition, developing graphic scores that invite performers to actively shape the music in real time. Influenced by abstract expressionist art and jazz, his work emphasizes flexibility, spontaneity, and the physical act of performance. Landmark pieces such as Four Systems (1954) and Available Forms challenged traditional notions of notation and authorship, leaving a lasting impact on contemporary composition and experimental performance practice.

Track Listing & Credits

Track 1 : Four Systems (No. 1 Ensemble)
Composer : Earle Brown
Performers: Agata Manka (violin), David Gould (bass clarinet), and John Bickerton (cymbals, gongs, chimes, bells, Rhodes electric piano, melodica with ring modulation, and wave drum)
Duration: 12:25
Track 2 : Four Systems (No. 2 Feedback)
Composer : Earle Brown
Performer: John Bickerton using cymbals and gongs, expanded through shortwave radio broadcasts and ring modulation. The cymbal setup includes a 20” ride with sizzle, an 18” medium crash, and an 18” China, while the gongs—a 22” Chinese Wind Gong and a 22” Lunar Flare Gong.
Duration: 10:22

Track 3: Four Systems (No. 3 For Prepared Guitar)

Composer : Earle Brown
Performer: John Bickerton on a prepared acoustic guitar, altered with pencils, wooden dowels, paper clips, and a large screw. The instrument is activated using Superball mallets, a cello bow, a bass bow, and an EBow, expanding its resonance and timbral range.
Duration: 10:10
Track 4: Four Systems (No. 4 Electronic)
Composer : Earle Brown
Performers:  John Bickerton programming on an ARP/Behringer 2600 synthesizer, augmented by additional electronics, delay, ring modulation, and filtering.
Duration: 12:35

Artist Information

John Bickerton is a contemporary composer whose work combines structural focus with expressive harmonic language across choral and instrumental forms.​ His music seeks a balance between lyrical line and architectural form, informed by long engagement with both improvisation and the American experimental tradition.

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