Commissioned composition performed during Graves Lecture

Stephens and Margetts, the dean of the School of Liberal Arts and former music faculty member, performed the piece at the NMTA annual conference in October in Lincoln.

Before the Chadron performance, Stephens explained the background of the eight sections included in the 22-minute piece.

“During my undergraduate years I was looking for absolutes. ‘How do I write something that will be lasting, permanent and inspirational?’ I was looking for guidance,” Stephens said.

Instead, his mentor gave him parameters and approaches, then offered guidance later.

“At that time, there was a lot of freedom for composers characterized by a write what you want to write sentiment,” he said.

“Music has no meaning, inherently. We get meaning through culture and through sharing music together. This was a bit confounding. I was looking for absolutes but culture and the answers are constantly shifting,” Stephens said.

Stephens said music was powerful and comforting when he was a youth.

“Music was my best friend,” he said.

Stephens shared a theory by, Edward Cohn, who proposed that, just like there’s a frame around visual art, there’s one around music and literature as well. That framework is time.

“What I’m trying to do in this piece is work with musical meaning,” Stephens said.

Referring to the Remnants portion of the title, Stephens said he incorporated musical remnants that run through the entire piece.