As we grapple with an ever-obstinate pandemic, local composer Mark Pullicino’s latest classical music symphony Corona Concerto deals explicitly with the fallout of COVID-19 and the emotional turmoil it left in its wake. The composer speaks with Lara Zammit about his latest piece and discusses the role classical music played during the pandemic.  

The four movements of the Corona Concerto symphony depict what you have characterised as the phases of the pandemic, namely Realisation, Sorrow, Ups and Downs and Relief. How does your composition attempt to express the feelings and moods associated with these phases?

The pandemic has affected us all this past year and the symphony reflects its four identifiable phases and the variety of emotions each part has evoked in us.

The first movement, Realisation, in which we first come to terms with the problem, was slow and saw the orchestra’s string section randomly strike out a random beat progression which is then sounded out by a slower melody provided by the wind instruments. This normally is imposed as the brass section and jogs us to come to grips with the unfortunate reality. The strong melody is the basis which drives the theme. 

The sorrow of the second movement has touched us all. We have all felt the pain of knowing of a loved one or friend that has died as a result of COVID-19. This piece is in E flat minor, the key chosen by Prokofiev for his sixth symphony, which likewise deals with the themes of tragedy, sorrow and anger.

The strings, especially the violins, talk to the heart, while at one point, a duet of horns track the notes down the scale to reach a dramatic, heart-wrenching low bass minor sound. The music, however, doesn’t leave us hanging there in anger ­– the violins quickly move up to reach a more bearable closure.

Music maybe can’t express your sorrow enough, but it can begin to take you there. This movement is written for the many who have tragically died.

Movement three, Ups and Downs, shows the changeable moods pertaining to lockdowns and subsequently opening up again, which are contrasted with the use of different keys and melodies. It also reflects our changing friendships.

The story classical music tells us is uniquely ours

At times, the monotonous beat is continued for longer than is comfortable, which depicts the daily repetitive lockdown routines we have got into, which seem to carry on forever!

The final movement, Relief, is communicated with an upbeat melody pushed by the strings, the gentle soothing harp adds joy, and with a flourish, the trumpets and trombones and cor anglais bring in hope, backed by the full orchestra.

There is, however, no dramatic full blown climax or conclusion, just a single long note from the lonely clarinet and then the rumble of the double bass, which brings the cadence home to end, a premonition that it may not all be over yet.

This, my fourth symphony, has been the most difficult to compose but has helped me through these worrying times.

I find the score reminiscent of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in that each movement expresses the respective ‘seasons’ of the pandemic, alluding to their cyclical nature. Each movement can be compared to the general feeling of each season: Realisation has an autumnal quality, starting off untroubled but eventually foreboding of the winter the come; Sorrow has very wintry moods which are dark and weighty; Ups and Downs retains the moodiness of spring and its temperamental quality; Relief conveys the optimism of bright, summary days, although, nevertheless, with a subtle sense of wariness. Would you say that the analogy of seasonality is a suitable interpretation of the organisation of your composition?

The Four Seasons, a favourite of mine, so aptly takes you through emotions experienced in the different seasons of the year, you can feel the winter chill!

The Corona Concerto, as you so eloquently express, tries to do the same through the four stages of the last pandemic year, which has consumed us. The old daily greeting of “Hi, great spring day today, isn’t it?” has almost been replaced by “Hi, have you heard the latest COVID numbers?” Yes, it is a good analogy you make.

We have seen classical music serve as a source of relief during the initial lockdown periods of the pandemic. Many videos had surfaced online of musicians playing their instruments to the solace of those likewise confined to their homes. What would you say is the quality of classical music that makes it so soothing and so apt at capturing and expressing the most subtle of feelings? Why do we need classical music in our lives?

Yes, musical harmony directly accesses the part of our brains that give us the reward sensation of pleasure (along with food and sex).

So, listening to music that triggers our thoughts can be soothing and even therapeutic. Most music is good but classical music has the advantage that it does not carry the filter of language or words, it is the basic sound of the orchestra’s instruments that our own minds interpret.

So classical music is thus universal, direct and can reach the broad pallet of our moods, and the story it tells us is uniquely ours. It expands even our most delicate feelings.

How can you live without classical music? Music is a relief in that it is an important marker of our civilisation.

Listen to the Corona Concerto here.