Percussionist John R. Beck writes: "It is the responsibility of the performing artist not only to recreate and interpret music written in the past, but to encourage and foster the creation of new music. Shared Spaces is the cumulative effort of many musicians toward this goal. These recordings were made over the course of seven years in three states. All of the music was the result of performers commissioning composers to write chamber music. To continue the theme of artists helping to create new art, the painting on the cover of the CD was a commission based solely on the title of one of the recorded works. It is my hope that musicians will always continue to collaborate with, and actively commission artists of all disciplines to create new art."