Performing is not altruism

I'm struck, listening to this conversation, by how frank Igor Levit is about making music being essential to his own mental health ("stability") during the first wave of the pandemic. A reminder to me that, while the act of sharing music so generously may be perceived as altruism, there is clear mutual benefit, as there should be. After all, how can such a generative, creative act as making music not provide important intangible rewards, and foremost to the musician(s) involved? 

​"The fact that I was able to play...and I couldn't care less whether there are two people or 35,000. Just that gave me a great deal of mental stability. So it went both ways: it was for the people, and very much for myself."

"This is an exhausting time, and yes, I am tired...[making music] is holding me together. This feeling, even for me, is new. Since this year [2020], it really became mentally, physically--health-wise--absolutely existential... just to press down the keys and to hear something that comes out. This gives me hope, it gives me stability. And on the other side, there are the people who actually felt the same."