American composer Shawn Okpebholo’s Zoom! was commissioned in the throes of the 2020 pandemic.  Instead of mourning its constraints and losses, however, Okpebholo composed a work that celebrates energy, hope, and optimism – and cleverly makes a reference to Zoom conferences.  The Austrian-born Erich Korngold, one of the 19^th Century’s greatest prodigies, came to Hollywood as a refugee from Hitler’s march across Europe.  His compositional gifts changed film scoring in Hollywood forever.  His exquisitely Romantic and tuneful Violin Concerto borrows generously from those great tunes he wrote for his Oscar-winning film scores, proving that film music can be as rich as any work for the concert hall.  Sergei Rachmaninoff’s celebrated Symphony No. 2 was written in self-doubt regarding his ability to compose a symphony.  His first attempt was a disaster, causing him to sink into depression and suffer a debilitating writers block.  But he prevailed, and his No.2 was immediately recognized as a masterpiece at its premiere and has been beloved ever since.  Filled with pathos and those famously gorgeous Rachmaninoff long and lofty melodies, the Symphony is equally filled with thematic cohesion and craft.  The very opening of the work presents a musical motto that will inform nearly every other theme in the Symphony – with a little bit of ancient church plainchant (the ominous Dies irae) mixed in.

© Max Derrickson