Arguably the greatest composer of all time, Sergei Rachmaninoff — a refugee from the totalitarian USSR — believed it was a privilege to play the U.S. national anthem.

Yet today we are faced with liberal and elitist artists in our country who apparently have a problem with performing for the president of the United States and with celebrating the peaceful transfer of power. Too many have withdrawn from inauguration performances out of a misguided desire to “protest” the incoming president. Others are caving to pressure from their fellow liberals.

Jennifer Holliday, Andrea Bocelli, Paul Anka, and the B-Street Band, a popular Bruce Springsteen cover group, have all dropped out. Other who have refused to perform include Elton John, Kiss, David Foster, Charlotte Church, and Moby.

These artists apparently won’t use their creative talents to elevate the entire nation on one of its most important days.

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In the middle of this nonsense from self-serving celebrities, it’s worth remembering what one of the world’s top composers thought about America and about playing our national anthem. Before his time as a celebrated composer, he escaped the former Soviet Union and went to Scandinavia after the Russian Revolution — eventually making his way to the United States.

Sergei Rachmaninoff loved America. He loved contributing to the American experience of music. Unlike many artists today who regularly slam our great country, Rachmaninoff appreciated how much the United States welcomed his contributions. His feelings for our nation can be heard in a particularly magical solo piano rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

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The rendition is neither a battle cry nor a bombastic triumphal announcement. It isn’t what one hears at a sporting event. There’s no singing by a famous baritone or backing by a full orchestra. Instead, it is simple and respectful, almost documentarian in its approach at first, as if delivered by an aged veteran asking the immortal question of the song’s first four lines.

From there, imagine this veteran’s eyes tearing up as he recounts the battle, thinking of his fallen comrades, the long night amid the sounds of artillery — and one begins to understand the melancholy of Rachmaninoff’s presentation.

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The piano then soars just a bit in honor of our flag, this emblem of freedom that signifies a land that fought for its freedom and won it. And it ends with what might be called “modest majesty” in a final signal of appreciation.

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We can look to some of Rachmaninoff’s own words to help explain why such emotional depth exists in this very simple recording and why he appreciated the freedom he and so many others found, and continue to find, in America:

“I have had ample opportunity of convincing myself of the great progress made by American audiences both in their power of assimilation and in their musical taste. Their artistic demands have grown to an astonishing extent … From this, one may conclude that the remarkable efforts of American, and especially New York, society to raise the standard of musical life have not been in vain. They have used every means in their power and have not spared any money in their effort to surpass Europe in this respect. They have succeeded.”

Contrast this love of country, love of culture, and love of music with the cynical and downright nasty words and tweets from those who turned down the opportunity of a lifetime to perform at a presidential inauguration. Rachmaninoff loved America — but he also appreciated how audiences strove to push their own cultural appreciation to new levels. They were not driven by an insistence on hijacking the culture for political benefit; they were motivated for the higher purpose of elevating the culture, period.

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Today, people like Charlotte Church demonstrate an utter lack of class and respect with such silly tweets as: “Your staff have asked me to sing at your inauguration, a simple Internet search would show I think you’re a tyrant. Bye.”

The behavior of many artists in regard to the inauguration of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, has shown their willingness to diminish the culture by selfishly politicizing it. Instead, they would be wise to look to the words and music of Rachmaninoff for a greater and more informed understanding of this country’s great gifts of artistic freedom.