“Pulitzer-winning composer Steve Reich … has been keeping busy with the solitary act of writing a new piece from his winter getaway in Los Angeles,” writes Tom Huizenga on Tuesday (5/26) at National Public Radio. “Q: How are you doing, personally, since the virus hit? Reich: Well, I’m 83, so I’m following all the guidelines assiduously. My wife is 74 and she’s doing the same thing. We come every year to Los Angeles to visit our son, from January to March…. We decided it was a lot safer here than to go back on an airplane. Q: Is there something that’s sustaining you, keeping you occupied, during your stay in L.A. so far? Reich: I’ve been working on … a piece called Traveler’s Prayer.… In any traditional Jewish Hebrew prayer book there’s a travelers prayer.… I am not using the body of that prayer. But in various prayer books there are additional verses taken either from the Torah or Psalms, that seem appropriate and that are sometimes added, sometimes not…. Judaism is very adamant about worrying about what’s happening here and now. So what I’m concerned about in this piece is really getting it right.”
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