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Arts & Communication

ARTICLE
Artists recreating our world with Rachmaninoff

as a guide and partner

Ralph Bathurst*
School of Management, Massey Business School, Massey University, North Shore, Auckland,
New Zealand

Abstract
This paper proposes that artists be at the forefront of community recovery in our
post-COVID-19 world. To achieve this proposition, it delves into the early professional
life of the renowned Russian composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 –
1943), notably focusing on his sense of failure after the premiere of his first symphony
and his subsequent recovery. It examines the importance of mentors who support
professionals through early career mistakes, the significance of learning the limits
of risk-taking, and the value of failure as guidance for development. Rachmaninoff’s
contribution to humanity is profound, as evidenced by the enduring performance of
his music in concert halls around the globe, making him an appropriate guide and
partner in fulfilling the recovery agenda.

Keywords: Career development; Diplomacy; Failure; Leadership; Music; Political skill

*Corresponding author: 1. Introduction
Ralph Bathurst
(R.Bathurst@massey.ac.nz) “[In the third piano concerto] it gets harder, even in the slow movement. In the slow
Citation: Bathurst R. Artists movement, you’ve got time to breathe, for like 30 s, and then it’s even harder than
recreating our world with the first movement, and it doesn’t stop. I would see the things he would ask you to
Rachmaninoff as a guide and
partner. Arts & Communication. do with the octaves and the speed and the accuracy. People who can do things like
2024;2(1):2126 that – it should be illegal! It’s inhuman!”
https://doi.org/10.36922/ac.2126 James Rhodes, pianist (33:49) 1
Received: October 27, 2023 “There is a moment in the first movement, in the solo bit, the cadenza, Rachmaninoff
Accepted: December 20, 2023 writes an alternative, a so-called ossia, and it is one of those moments where he’s
asking his interpreters, ‘Are you Rach-man-enough?’”
Published Online: March 4, 2024
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). Tom Service, commentator (34:24) 1
This is an Open-Access article In a world where success is measured in financial terms and where the business of
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution business is to increase profits, artists are considered outsiders. Although a few stars
License, permitting distribution, achieve global fame, capturing our collective imagination, in the main, artists live in
and reproduction in any medium, obscurity and seem to contribute little to economic prosperity. What, though, if that
provided the original work is
properly cited. world was turned on its head and artists were considered as central to our wellbeing?
In this paper, I explore this possibility, recruiting Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943) as
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with both guide and partner in this quest, noting in particular his recovery from depression
regard to jurisdictional claims in after the first performance of his Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op 13, as we collectively
published maps and institutional seek to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
affiliations.

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2024) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/ac.2126