Orli: What makes it fun to play is a really layered question, because there’s so much. I think one aspect is, it’s fun to listen to. And it’s always fun to play something that’s fun to listen to. Another is that it’s so intelligently worked out, and it feels good in the hands. And the combination of those two means the performer is constantly stimulated. You’re constantly going <gasps>, you’re always looking to the next thing to come up, and that’s really very satisfying.
Steve: I’m gratified to hear Orli talk about it that way. It’s Important to me that she enjoy playing the piece. She is my audience. I don’t know who the audience is, it’s going to be different every night; she is my audience.
Getting to what’s fun for me, my music is physical; I am physical when I am composing. I dance, either literally or viscerally, when I’m composing. That’s how I follow where to go, is the physical twitches that I make. My wife makes fun of me, she’ll come in when I’m composing – I am swaying, and bobbing and weaving and emoting. And she puts her hand on my shoulder and says, oh you’re the cutest thing. Because it’s silly looking, I’m alone, and I’m taking dictation from…whatever. So that physicality of the music is in there from beginning.
