The Music of Stuart Jones

Time Shifts

The composition of Time Shifts was decidedly different from my usual work since the process relied mostly on intuition rather than a preordained plan. During the 1990s, I gradually released myself from compositional systems and instead depended upon an instantaneous inner voice for both creation and decision. This quite naturally led to musical places that I did not expect, and, as such, the works kept reestablishing themselves in new lights during their composition. Learning to cope with the unpredictability’s became part of the compositional process. Many personal musical experiences, long overlooked, began to appear within the fabric of the piece, although I am unable to articulate with any certainty what these memories eventually entailed in the piece.

Time Shifts divides roughly into four sections with an introduction and brief interludes interspersed throughout the work for piano and percussion alone. Early in the composition of the piece I decided that the role of the clarinet would be as protagonist portraying a drama within a musical landscape provided by the piano and percussion. Elements of the scenario repeatedly appear within the fabric of the composition thereby providing points of reference for the continuous drama.

Performances

• Zeitgeist New Music Ensemble, Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN May 1996
• Wellesley Composers Conference, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA Aug 3, 1996
  Jean Kopperud, clarinet, Martin Goldray, piano, Dominic Donato and Stephen Paysen, percussion, Efrain Guigui, conductor
• Lumen Contemporary Music Ensemble, Arlington, MA Mar 21, 1999
  Jean Kopperud, clarinet, Elise Yun, piano, Bill Manley and Robert Schulz, percussion, Stuart Jones, conductor
• League ISCM of NYC, Merkin Hall, New York, NY Mar 20, 2000
  Jean Kopperud, clarinet, Martin Goldray, piano, Daniel Druckman and James Baker, percussion, Stuart Jones, conductor

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