Larry Austin

For over fifty years, composer Larry Austin has redefined what music is and could be through his experimental compositions. Working with hybrid musics, improvisation, and computer music, Austin has created a wonderful and unique sound world. Austin had important associations with John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Leonard Bernstein and others. He co-founded and served as editor of the journal, Source: Music of the Avant Garde. He is also well known for his completion/ realization of Charles Ives’ Universe Symphony. In this compact study of Austin’s work, composer and theorist Thomas Clark introduces Austin’s life and times, and then provides important insights into the musical techniques, structures, and complex meanings Larry Austin has created in his music.