Ottuplo! The Eighth Decade (review)

Although it is not so difficult to cite many composers and performers who have contributed important innovations in one or two areas of musical art, it is not so easy to find those who have dispersed their visionary efforts over such a broad spectrum as has Larry Austin, who now serves us in this capacity in his eighth decade. These innovations lie not only in the domain of music composition and performance (e.g., early mixing of jazz with new-music elements, "open style" including incorporation of theatrical and dance elements, sonic/ visual explorations with fractal geometry, the realization of Charles Ives's Universe Symphony, unique employment of convolution cross-synthesis techniques, to name a few) but also venture into realms of archiving, recording, publishing, and distributing music as well as playing leading roles in our organizations of the music community.

During a recent symposium, Richard Kostelanetz cited SOURCE: Music of the Avant Garde, co-founded, edited, and published by Larry Austin from 1966 to 1974, as one of the most important music journals ever published. Indeed! The impact of SOURCE lives on to this day. It is easy to view CDCM: Consortium to Distribute Computer Music, founded by Austin in 1986, and its production on the Centaur label of 35 discs, as a contemporary version of the same vision that created SOURCE. Following this was a progressive presidency of International Computer Music Association (1990-1994), which saw the first Asia-hosted ICMC and, in 1996, the award of the Magisterium prize in Bourges, honoring his artistry, influence, and vision over several decades.

Although this document serves as a review of a new disc, not a history, this release should be heard bas relief against the backdrop of such a career, a career that, in 2006, exhibits all the enthusiasm and energy embodied in its past. This new CD offers us the opportunity of hearing new Larry Austin music in the present, as we reflect on accomplishments in the past, and look forward to new ones in the future.

Music presented on this CD spans the years 1965 to 2006: an early "tape piece," RomaDue, from 1965 (revised in 1997); art is self-alteration is Cage is . . . from 1982–1983 (revised in 1993); Ottuplo! (1998–2000); Threnos (2001–2002); Tableaux: Convolutions on a Theme (2003–2004); Adagio: Convolutions on a Theme by Mozart (2004–2005); and Les Flûtes de Pan: Homage à Debussy (2005–2006).

Larry Austin has a long history of "tipping his hat" toward music of other composers and performers. These musics include those from the distant past, the more-recent past, as well as from the contemporary world in which we live. It could be said that it requires a certain bravery to invite, implicitly, comparison of one's self with certain venerated icons, the likes of which would include Henry Purcell, Wolfgang Mozart, Modest Mussorgsky, Claude Debussy, Charles Ives, John Cage, and others. Fortunately, Mr. Austin does not go about his work with a fear of intimidation. He honors, glosses the works of these other artists and, in the process, contributes new art to the many streams of influence and inspiration flowing from our past into, and through, "us." Mr. Austin tips his hat in such a manner with several pieces on this CD.

His travels have taken him far and wide on this planet and often his music reflects this cultural influence, both overtly and covertly. Surely we all have experienced reflections from our excursions into other cultures and have studied their impact on our lives and music. Two such "studies" appear on this CD and both represent interaction with and absorption of these cultural dynamics in the music.

Always enjoyable is the opportunity of hearing early works by our most influential composers, works that...