As physical distancing and cancelled concerts becomes the new normal, pianist Stephen Hough contemplates the unexpected - and not unwelcome - change of pace
I leave my house in the morning and walk to my studio. There are few people on the street and my body is adjusting from breakfast as my mind is adjusting from the morning emails. I speak to no one, and at my studio I turn on the lights and make myself an espresso. Then to the piano. The day stretches ahead. I see no one. It’s just me and Beethoven, hour after hour. Around 6.30pm I stop, wash the coffee cup, turn off the lights, leave and go home.
This is my life when I’m at home in London and not travelling. So far, there is no difference in my routine due to the coronavirus. For the past 35 years, these London days, calmly spent working between concert engagements, have been few and far between. Every morning as I wake up, there has usually been a sense of anxiety: am I ready for the next concert? When do I have to get to the airport? Is that piece memorised? The dress rehearsal next week – can I play first so that I can get back to the hotel and rest before the concert? Oh yes, I forgot to ask my management whether I was going to be met at the airport or have to take a taxi. And so on. Mundane business questions barely balanced with sublime musical questing. But now in these pandemic days, I spent one morning going through my diary erasing concert after concert, rehearsal after rehearsal, flight after flight. Weeks of activity gone.
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