David Ahern & Vexations & The Avant Garde in Sydney, 1970

Sydney Morning Herald, February 22nd, 1970
Sydney Morning Herald, February 23rd, 1970
The Age, February 24th, 1970

The above articles are contemporary reports & reviews on David Aherns staging of Erik Saties notorious Vexations at the Watters Gallery in Sydney, 21st Februrary, 1970. This was the debut event for Aherns new music performance group Az Music, a collection of young musicians interested in avant-garde composition, improvisatory music, and electronic exploration. Alongside Vexations they staged pieces by Christian Wolff and La Monte Young (though Az Music were the first in Australia to perform many now modern 'classics', the first performances of La Monte Young in Australia had been staged by the Ubu Collective in the mid 1960's, though those were in the performative/happening sense then in a musical fashion). This performance (happening?) could be said to mark the beginning of a new generation of avant-garde musical production in Australia, a generational shift away from arch modernists such as Peter Sculthorpe, Felix Werder, and Richard Meale who, despite their important & interesting explorations within the Australian musical lexicon, and support for the emerging wave of activity (whilst their other more stuffy contemporaries were on the whole dismissive or outright hostile) remained relatively fixed within the pure 'classical' idiom. This activity happened in tandem with, though independent of, similar happenings in Melbourne (see Keith Humble, Jeremy Noone, Chris Mann, Warren Burt etc.) though comparatively to Melbourne it received rather generous financial and institutional support (as was always the case of things in Sydney, see also the way modern jazz fared in Sydney compared to Melbourne).

Though he tragically died at the young age of 40 in 1980, having become a washed up alcoholic living in seclusion in Adelaide, David Ahern was one of the prime figures in the history of avant-garde music in Australia. His career had began early, an upstart teenager in Sydney who, by at the age of 15, had become obsessed with the idea of becoming a composer. At the age of 16 he sought out contemporary classical figures, Richard Meale and Nigel Butterly, embarking on study with them. His first major composition, After Mallarme (1966), was performed by the South Australian Symphony Orchestra, at the age of 19. He soon embarked overseas, studying with Stockhausen at Darmstadt, and with Cornelius Cardew (where he was participated in the Scratch Orchestra), as well as allegedly being invited to New York by La Monte Young to join the Theatre of Eternal Music.

Unlike many other Australians who quite happily seeped quietly into the international background Ahern returned to Australia in 1970 determined to compose, promote, and perform 'new music' locally. He conducted free classes on improvisation through the Sydney Conservatorium (known as Laboratory of the Creative Ear, they were open to anyone interested. The subject matter covered in the classes included; "Stockhausen’ s Aus den Seiben Tagen, La Monte Young, Cardew and the Scratch Orchestra, audition (modes of listening), Satie, Cage, some eastern thought and the forms of composition and improvisation,") and began writing about new music in the local press and presenting radio programs (promoting the likes of Musica Electronica Viva via the ABC).

Arguably his most important contribution was via the new music performance groups, Az Music and Teletopa. Az Music (A to Z Music, "think of it As Music," etc.) performed a range of compositions both international (Cage, Wolff, Riley, Reich, Feldman, Ashley, Cardew, Lucier, Kagel, Berio, Young, Jennings etc.) and, just as importantly, national (David Ahern, Ian Bonighton, Ron Nagorka, Richard Meale, Robert Irving, Cameron Allen etc. - Az Music provided an avenue for adventurous local composers that otherwise might not have been available) whilst Teletopa were concerned with group improvisation (featuring amongst others jazz/classical crossover saxophonist Roger Frampton). Teletopa even managed an international tour, playing in the Phillipines, Japan, America, and Europe, culminating in their participation in Harvey Matusow's International Carnival of Experimental Sounds (ICES '72) in London.  He remained in contact throughout the 70's with Cardew & Stockhausen along with John Cage, Gordon Mumma, Steve Reich, and Toru Takemitsu - all of whom he unsuccessfully attempted to arrange Australian tours for - though Stockhausen did visit Australia, finding little to like about the country, and Toru Takemitsu did visit Sydney briefly, as described by JHB Humberstone;

"Ahern had visited Takemitsu in Tokyo, although the dates are uncertain: possibly as part of the Teletopa tour in 1972. Their relationship, according to Barnard, was close (“David used to take him down the West End Hotel, the roughest pub in Balmain”) and while Ahern did not manage to arrange a tour for Takemitsu, it seems that he was taken at his word when he promised to show him around Australia and introduce him to important Australian musicians. Takemitsu simply turned up in Sydney and phoned Ahern:
 
He just decided to be here by himself... “Herro, are you A-hern? Composer David A-hern?”. “Yeah. And I’m very bloody pissed.”. “Herro, this is Toru.”. I said, “oh god, Toru, this is something else. Where are you Toru?”, ie, “are you in Japan?”. Well, that’s what I thought. He said “No. Synney.” I said “OK Toru”, then we just organised everybody. Very quickly. But we couldn’t find where Peter was," (Humberstone, pg. 79)

The best biographical source of information is JHB Humberstones Masters Thesis "The Music of David Ahern" (2003), available here, most of the above information was sourced from this document. Sound recordings (including a full length recording of Journal (1969), very much in the style of an Antipodean Stockhausen) are available via the Australian Music Centre, and there are several articles on Az Music available to read via Rainer Linzs' archives. I may put together a follow up post with some of Aherns colourful Letters to the Editors and the accompanying negative reviews he received in the newspapers at the time.