Larry Austin
with Vincent Plush
Denton, Texas
April 15, 1983 (Tapes a-d) and September 30. 1983 (e-g)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TAPE A (pp. 1-19)
Childhood in Oklahoma- -Depression- -e! arly interest in music- -move to Texas- -trumpet lessons- -New York Philharmonic broadcasts- -[Untranscribable portion]- -high—school. Dixieland band- -improvisation group, the Notecrackers- -North Texas State University- -non—acceptance of jazz- -early composition efforts- -Bachelor of Music Education degree- -influence of Honegger, Hindemith, Bartók, Milhaud- -study with Violet Archer- -Ives- -New Music Quarterly- -playing Bartók String Quartets on piano- -separation of jazz and classical music.
TAPE 3 (pp. 19-38)
European models- -early pieces- -Stravinsky- -church music- -Master’s thesis on Bach’s Orgelbilchlein- -Army service- -compositions for band- -radio broadcasts- -musicology study at Berkeley- -study with Andrew Imbrie—-Milhaud- -intuitive approach to composition- -incorporating jazz elements- -Homecoming- -Gunther Schuller- -MacDowell Colony- -Improvisations-! -Fantasy on a Theme of Berg- -Mass- -te! aching at UC Davis- -Piano Variations.
TAPE C (pp. 38-56)
Piano Variations- -Improvisations- -Bernstein recording- -revisions dictated by Bernstein- -blues- -free group improvisation- -making the symphony swing- -new music ensemble doing free group improvisation- -”open style’- -Quartet in Open Style- -Open Style for Orchestra with Piano Soloist- -Catharsis- -San Francisco Tape Music Center- -Buchla- -The Maze- -sabbatical in Rome- -Stockhausen- -Source magazine- -its reception by American academe.
TAPE D (pp. 56-74)
Roma- -Il Gruppo di Improvisazione di Nuovo Consonanza- -tape studio in Rome- -Rzewski- -Accidents- -The Maze—Roger Reynolds- -theater elements- -The Magicians- -Transmission One- -computer course at Stanford- -Caritas- -Catalogo Sonoro- -Agape- -! Agape_Set- -Quadrants- -writing series of pieces- -move to University of South Florida at Tampa- -Walter- -Tableaux_Vivants- -music to hang on the wall- -Catalogo pieces- -Euphonia- -move to teach at North Texas State University- -setting up computer system.
TAPE E (pp. 74-90)
Early interest in Ives- -Universe Symphony- -interest in realizing the sketches- -notion that it was not intended to be finished- -transcription of sketches- -Peer International edition- -Lou Harrison- -Ives ~s outsider- -disputes over transcription- -structure of piece- -scoring- -Life-Pulse orchestra- -Earth chord- -Heavens music- -metrical intricacy of Life—Pulse- -spatial distribution- -meant to be played in a hall- -dynamic levels- -Keene Valley- -mapping mountains.
TAPE F (pp. 90-103)
Mapping contour of hills- -Maroon Bells- -performance at North Texas of par Phantasmagoria: Fantasy on Ives’ Universe Sy! mphony- -narrator- -Ives and Austin collaboration- -use of click tracks for Life-Pulse- -notation- -synthetic scales- -American experimental tradition- -dating- -2500-voice choir- -duration- -proportions of sections- -projected performance with Jan Williams at SUNY Buffalo of Life—Pulse section- -use of click tracks- -resemblance to gamelan music- -frustration with lack of performances.
TAPE G (pp. 103-115)
Three Fantasies on Ives’ Universe Symphony- -influence on Austin’s later music- -absence of choral component- -Maroon Bells- -Canadian Coastlines- -Beachcombers/Coast Zone- -interest in Mandelbrot’s work on fractals- -physical motion of sound in Ives- -mention of electric cuing lights in Ives’s sketches- -Sonata Concertante- -use of computer to extend range of piano—dramatic quality- -new performance area.
