" Rhapsody for Rachmaninoff" I had developed a musicological relationship with Michael Conway Baker, an award-winning Wsr Coast composer. Iwas paricularly impressed with his ballet score for"Washington Square"based on the movie " The Heiress" which starred Olivia DeHavilland & Montgomery Clift, as a fortune hunting suitor. I helped Michael with editing some of his autobiography. He especially warned new composers to avoid teachers and academics who believe that melody or tonality was not pure and tended to excite emotions rather than succumb to a sterile, formal analysis favoured by a purely academic approach. He played his tribute to Rachmaninoff for me and,ultimately dedicated the printed score to my wife Ann Weissengruber.Ann always searches to find the melody or singing line in any composition,something that was always at the center of Michael;s own compositional efforts.
 Listen to Michael at the keyboard playing with an all female string ensemble. The melody is dominant throughout the entire piece.

https://youtu.be/bWyaEoErruc