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Arts & Communication Artists recreating our world

importance of the arts in our post-COVID-19 world. As Rachmaninoff, as guide and partner, therefore, offers
Ibbotson claims, “being an artist is a physical experience” both inspiration and instruction. The artist’s work is
16
(p. 129). Whether it is painted canvas, carved stone, or crucial as we conceive of a world that eschews measures
performed sound waves, art is physical, embodied in both of success based on growth and economic worth. His first
the creator and perceiver. symphony, though rarely performed, is masterful in its
own way. He grew as a composer and performer from that
Rachmaninoff also acts as a partner in our collective
ambitions to create works that move people emotionally first disastrous performance and is today a model of the
and physically. Such movement may not just come from artist’s central place in our post-pandemic world.
pleasant art and often results from experiences of ugliness Acknowledgments
and dissonance. Artists are confronters who cajole, rebuke,
and warn humanity, disturbing our comfortable ease with None.
uncomfortable truths. Funding
Making the connections between art and politics and
acting as humanity’s antennae is difficult to achieve. A clue None.
might be found in the opening sequence of Rachmaninoff’s Conflict of interest
second piano concerto (C minor, Op 18), the work he
penned after his treatment with Dr Dahl. It stands out in The author declares no conflicts of interest.
the repertoire in that the piano begins before the orchestra. Author contributions

The opening of the second piano concerto breaks with
the tradition of the orchestra first establishing the themes, This is a single-authored article.
followed by the piano reiterating them. There were only Ethics approval and consent to participate
several instances of this occurring before Rachmaninoff
wrote the concerto. Beethoven began his 4 piano concerto Not applicable.
th
(G major, Op 58) with the soloist playing the main theme
with a radical twist. The piano begins in the home key and Consent for publication
moves towards the dominant. The orchestra then plays the Not applicable.
same theme, but in B major, a chromatic alteration that
would have startled audiences. Availability of data
Rachmaninoff’s soloist opens with increasingly Not applicable.
dissonant chord clusters moving from very soft to very
loud, based on the subdominant F minor. There is a hint References
of the dominant on the last note in the left hand of the 1. Service T. The Joy of Rachmaninoff. BBC Music; 2016. Available
8 bar before the resolution to the tonic in bar 9 and the from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnfveUjQgZ8
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orchestra entry at bar 11. The opening is notable in several [Last accessed on 2023 Oct 23].
ways. First, it places big demands on the soloist to control 2. Caust J. Arts, Culture and Country. New Platform Papers.
the gradual increase of volume while clustering the chords. Vol. 1-2. Australia: Currency House Inc.; 2022. p. 2-39.
Second, Rachmaninoff shows the strength of his recovery 3. Lee B, Rentschler R, Pinto B. Enabling creative connections:
by mimicking the most radical of all composers: Beethoven. The case of digital arts consumption. Int J Arts Manage.
The opening of the second piano concerto is not in any 2023;25(3):31-45.
way modest, and this places Rachmaninoff at the forefront 4. Bell G. Profound connectivity: A social life of music during
of our need to reconstruct our world post-COVID-19. the pandemic. Drama Rev. 2021;65(1):180-188.
He demonstrates that it is possible to be radical and doi: 10.1017/S1054204320000155
revolutionary without being destructive or nihilistic. We
can remake our world and achieve lasting change through 5. Jacobs R, Finneran M, D’Acosta TQ. Dancing toward the
beauty. However, this cannot be achieved by artists alone, light in the dark: COVID-19 changes and reflections on
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normal from Australia, Ireland and Mexico. Arts Educ Policy
and where beauty is the guiding objective, we can work Rev. 2022;123(1):29-38.
together in a spirit of goodness and goodwill, processes
with which artists are familiar. This is the leadership doi: 10.1080/10632913.2020.1844836
required and which artists offer to achieve community 6. Gotrich L. A List of Live Virtual Concerts to Watch During
renewal. the Coronavirus Shutdown; 2020. Available from: https://

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