Grace Notes

Catherine knew that, given her luck, she would get her period on the first day of rehearsal

Working was a way of getting rid of time. Once she became absorbed correcting, improving, adding texture, exploring new sequences of notes, time disappeared. Stravinsky once described it as ‘like an animal grubbing around’. But for her it was more of a refinement of the original idea, a focusing of what she’d aspired to or heard in the first place but had not managed to achieve. Notes in their perfect places.

– actually writing the notes down. She knew she had embarked on a huge work – by far the biggest thing she’d ever attempted. It took a hell of a lot of notes to keep an orchestra playing for that length of time. The skills gained in past work were of little use in solving the problems of the present. She had to begin to learn all over again for the new thing she was setting out to make. So she felt always a beginner. Getting down to new work was hard for her but this piece was in the final stages. In it she had found a voice of her own