Light at the End of the Tunnel (2020)

I am so grateful to the BBC for this commission to write a short work for one of the players in one of its orchestras. Not only because I think it is marvellous that the BBC is recognizing these individual players during this time when concert halls are dark, but also because it gives us composers a chance to say thank you to them as well. The work, entitled Light at the End of the Tunnel, was completed today, August 5th, 2020.

Today nobody knows how long the “tunnel” of the pandemic, Covid-19, will be. All that is certain is that one day we will reach that “light” at the end of the tunnel and that “normal” times will resume. But what will that “normal” be? No way to know. We can only hope that somehow we will all work together so that we will emerge into a warmer and clearer light where there will be true justice and, above all, peace.

So in the music the solo viola reacts to the journey through life during this terrifying worldwide 2020 pandemic with despair and agitation. His several outbursts are interrupted by a quiet long-held his E natural which of course represents the “light at the end of the tunnel”. Eventually the viola realizes that this light is indeed there and one day will be reachable. His agitation calms as he resolves this E natural to A major. The future is this one of hope though there are many things that will have to be fought for.

Programme note © Thea Musgrave, 5 August 2020