only when the clock stops...

Program notes

“only when the clock stops...” takes its title from William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. Split into four movements, the music is inspired by the narratives of two characters, Benjy and Quentin. The piece explores the escaping of time that both of these characters undertake in Faulkner’s novel: Benjy’s narrative contemplates the relationship between the past, present, and future; he hopes to escape time by looping himself in a moment of the past. Quentin, on the other hand, contemplates the slowing down or speeding up of time; constantly aware of “a minute clicking of little wheels” that happen every second, from his watch to the grandfather clock to the cathedral bells across the river.

This piece examines Benjy’s and Quentin’s attempts to escape time in musical terms; cells of rhythmic and melodic content repeat themselves, almost obsessively, in an attempt to freeze time. Musical time itself, just like Quentin’s perception of time, is slowed down yet also sped up, occasionally unnoticeable and at other times overwhelming. In Quentin’s own words, “You can be oblivious to the sound [of a watch or a clock] for a long while, then in a second of ticking it can create in the mind unbroken the long diminishing parade of time you didn’t hear.”

The four movements of this piece are divided with the first and third movements resembling Benjy’s narrative, while the second and fourth resemble Quentin’s narrative. However, the piece is intended to be performed as a whole.