Daniel Jones and Bletchley Park

[guest2]

I've been getting to know the eight string quartettes and thirteen symphonies of Daniel Jones. The quartettes are rather good - in the same class as the chamber music of Fauré for instance. They are well crafted and show a lyrical sense and attention to every detail of the harmony. I am very glad never to have been exposed to his Sonata for Kettledrums though.

What is interesting in the Grove write-up of his life is that he worked at Bletchley Park as a decoder during the war years. And some of his music we are told reflects his "metrical experiments, which were influenced by his understanding of patterns and symmetrical shapes in nature (he kept a microscope for noting plant structures)." Now that recalls does it not Turing's interests towards the end of his life in morphogenetics (the development of living things). I wonder whether they knew each other and if so whether they discussed the subject. Daniel Jones is not mentioned in Mr. Hodges's fascinating Turing biography.

[autoharp]

That's interesting. I remember getting hold of his Bagatelles for piano in the 1960s in the hope of learning a thing or two about unsquare rhythms/time signatures but was rather disappointed. Maybe I still possess them. I also remember being unimpressed with the timpani piece.