The Piano

My unhealthy musical obsession goes on and this Friday I was able to fulfill another musical dream of mine and see the noted Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires. She performed the wonderful 9th Mozart piano concert (FYI, Mozart is a kinky classical composer with a frantic laughter). As things go my stay in Torino proves to be a successful musical investment as the city is full of culture and events.

Meanwhile I managed to see an old film that I remember vaguely from my childhood - The Piano. It talks of a mute woman pianist who arrives with her little daughter to New Zealand to get married for a local landowner. She is unable to say a word and expresses herself only through sign language and....her piano. She undergoes hardship and humiliation to keep the instrument close to her - starring is Holly Hunter who manages to portray excellently the pain and determination of her heroine. I find the movie quite enchanting because it shows us how people different from us have a deep and often misunderstood sensuality. The movie is set in a 19th century conservative society but if I look closely at my own country of Bulgaria, maybe not so much has changed in terms of tolerance and acceptance.

Madrid

It's difficult to describe a journey - here I am back from Madrid and the only word I can think of is "WOW". I spent 3 awesome days in the Spanish capital(I am talking about Madrid now, don't embarrass yourself). Bearing in mind I was on a business trip and I couldn't just leave the conference to go sightseeing, I didn't see a great part of the city and the few pictures I took were on the run. That BTW is not necessarily a bad thing as with time I realized I have developed the Japanese syndrome which means making 500 photos abroad and actually seeing where you have been when you get back home and see the photos.
Madrid is a beautiful city - big, classical, metropolitan and full of day and nightlife. People tend to wake up later in the day, go have fun outside and go to sleep (if they ever go to sleep) in the small hours. I can't really say which is better - Madrid or Barcelona but Spain is an incredible country. People are really outgoing, open and crazy (and that coming from a guy who lives in Italy...) and they don't miss any opportunity to have one.
A special section of this post I dedicate to my hotel Puerta America which a 5 star, 13 floor architectural miracle and any floor is different and unique. I was on the 4-th PLASMA floor which seemed a way too alien to me. I spent 2 hours sightseeing the hotel and made some awesome pictures.

The return of the jester

Trying set myself apart from the "I bring disasters" attitude, I can't help but comment the latest news from Italy. The return to power of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's richest man and media-empire mogul. For anyone not interested in Italian politics, Berlusconi has won a stable majority in the Italian parliament and is going to become a prime-minister for the 3rd time. He has also been the only prime-minister after WW2 that managed to complete his full mandate (that I will not comment as it is beyond my power of comprehension). He is noted for his controversial humour, big smile, plastic surgery, media monopoly and disastrous economic policies...a hell of a character, eh? Being non-Italian(so they say) and non-socialist you might find it rather surprising my harsh-toned criticism for him. Point is, I am not here to judge and pronounce sentences upon Italy's internal affairs ...just express my personal view.

I find it hard to believe how second-rate PR techniques, media brain-washing and ridiculous statements can convince the people of one the biggest economies in the world, a country with centuries of culture and history to vote for a man who turns politics into a TV show. What I find truly absurd is that they did that for the 3rd time after he brought nothing to Italy except international humiliation, a struggling economy and evaded reforms.

Unfortunately this is becoming a precedent in other parts of Europe as well. Poland had the Kaczynski brothers, France is ruled by the "I love Carla and promise you the stars" Sarkozy and the all mighty Boyko Borisov will probably rule in Bulgaria soon. All brilliant examples of that if people are disappointed, they tend to vote with their feet. Some time from now Italians might wake up with a terrible hangover...

P.S.
-Some of Berlusconi's most notable sayings:
I have little hair because my brain is so big it pushes (the hair) out.
-I am sorry for having said communists eat babies. But I can organise a conference in which I will prove communists have really eaten babies.
-(after the Twin Towers attack): WE should be conscious of the superiority of our civilisation, which has given people widespread prosperity in those countries ...
-He said to a German European deputy that he should take a film role as a Nazi concentration camp leader.
-Berlusconi advised a young woman, who complained that she could not find a job, to get married, since she was cute, “maybe to one of my sons, they are all rich”

Martha Argerich in Torino

Sometimes I can't really believe my luck...Most of you know about my (who said unhealthy) relationship with classical music and especially the music for piano. With sweet tenderness I recall the day when I got myself a Beethoven cassette for a tape recorder when I was 7 years old or when my mom took me to watch the Amadeus movie and I stood in the cinema saloon with a mouth wide open in dismay.
I know most of you don't give a shit a about it and think this music is dead and annoying but I find it profoundly deep and powerful. In the recent years I have developed a fondness for an Argentine pianist called Martha Argerich who I consider to be one of the most influential pianist of our time and a powerful music communicator. And last night in the RAI Auditorium here in Torino, there she was giving an outstanding performance on Prokofiev's 3rd piano concert. Prokofiev is a Russian composer (actually quite a modern one) who some describe as an enfant terrible (terrible child) and others have no issues calling him a sick fuck. A hell of a genius of you ask me, direct, sometimes brutal, with a hellish sense of humour and sarcasm. The thing about his 3rd piano concert it is incredibly difficult from the technical point of view and smashingly impressive as a musical impact.

So there was Martha, a woman of almost 70 years with grey hair and an ageing outlook. The moment her hands touched the keyboard of the piano she transformed into a powerful natural force and I could hardly believe what she was doing and if it physically and musically possible. By the end of the performance I had chills up and down my spine (as well as body parts of which existence I wasn't fully aware of) and I clapped and applauded her till exhaustion.

A BIG THANK YOU to my friends Laura and Lorenzo who shared this unique experience with me. Though they were not devoted admirers of classical music they were staggered by the perform ace. If you have managed to come to the end of this post, I can't offer you any financial reward but you can see an example of Martha Argerich strenght when playing HERE, HERE and HERE

Back from Barcelona

Yuhuuu, here am I back in Italy after a 5 day stay in Barcelona. I truly find it a geat city and having in mind that 1 picture says more than 1 000 words, you can view my photos here.
There are some things that made an impression on me:
- it's almost incredible how much Italy and Spain are alike in terms of mentality and lifestyle - Mediterranean all the way, I truly love it.
- yet I guess, Spain is more modern and international as Italy is more classical and stuck to its hitorical roots
- Barcelona is the city of Gaudi (the kinky genius Catalan architect) as Torino is one of the baroque capitals of Europe
- Nightlife in Barcelona is AWESOME but Italian food, coffee and wine blow the Spaniards away
- I am in love with the "manana" attitude that Spain has... this is why it took me so long to post this on the blog - have been delaying it for at least a week.
- the city is full of English and American tourists and even they can't spoil the unique colourfull spirit
- as much as I liked it, you can't really ignore the whores and drug dealers that you find almost anywhere in city centre
- I was able to speak Italian (yeah, OK, sort of...) with some Catalan people because the two lingos are very much alike. I was sorta disappointed that Spanish is not excatly like Italian with an "s" at the end of each word. But close anyway...just never say "buonos giornos", they will give you some very srange looks.

Graduation....no shit?

How did I forget to mention. I went to Bulgaria, I saw the family, I saw some friends, I saw the dog (I love you Uma)....and yes ....I also took my final exam with the highest possible score....

I am still trying to combat the humiliation of being a straight A student (if you know me enough never been fond of getting good marks at school) and furthermore I consider the education and the diploma of my university profoundly irrelevant. Anyway, I am just happy this hell is over for me.

On the two pictures above, pls find the differences and mail them to me. The winner gets a trip to Italy (on his own expenses)

The whispering chorus

I forgot to write about this but several weeks ago I went to see a movie called "The whispering chorus". Nothing so weird about it except for the fact that the movie was a 1918 black and white mute film. What is even more amazing about it that the projection of the film was accompanied by a jazz quintet that gave an amazing performence of jazz music directly coresponding to the mood and scenes of the film.

Honestly, that was very impressive. Never ever have I seen such a particular art form, nor have I imagined that you can enrich an old classical movie with music. The whole experience takes you to another world - 90 years in an era where ideas where born and new inventions change people's lives - the telephone, the train, the cinema. Another fact is that Torino is so much full of cultural events that remain hidden and you have to discover them yourself. Pretty much that is the spirit of the city - a pearl on the map of Italy with many hidden treasures that remain unseen for the observer at first glance.