But the solace and purpose it can provide, particularly in times of stress or crisis, can truly be life saving. Or at least sanity saving.
The current pandemic crisis here in the U.S. - and in so many countries - is a perfect example. Most of the residents of this country, including New York City where I reside, are under orders to remain self-sequestered as much as possible to limit the spread of the covid-19 virus.
For most people this might seem like existential torture, captive in their dwellings and struggling to find ways to occupy their time and energy. Putting aside the general air of anxiety surrounding the situation, for a musician this is almost mana. In my own case, while my anxiety has prevented me from any original creativity on my own compositions, it is offering an unprecedented opportunity to catch up on the backlog of never-ending foundation work that composers always face: updates and revisions to existing pieces, digital admin work, parts or other engraving for which regular life nevers seems to allow time. And this sort of mindless busywork is a blessed distraction from the increasingly dire miasma of the news.
With my business clients largely on hiatus due to the situation, this increase in free time is allowing me to catch up on a number of delayed projects, in particular this reduction of Elektra. The instrumental parts are now all completed, and I’m making great headway on formatting the second half of the score. I expect the entire project to be fully completed by the beginning of May at the latest - the irony being that it may be considerably longer than that before any performing organization is in a position to consider undertaking it.
In the meantime, here’s another scrolling score teaser video teaser to whet the appetite… or the blade: Elektra’s opening monologue.
VO courtesy of Noteperfermer 3.1.
**NOTE: All metronome markings, and therefore tempi, are Strauss', not mine.**
