EXPO opening concert

...but also

http://ricerca.gelocal.it/lanuovasardegna/archivio/lanuovasardegna/1999/11/02/ST401.html

Thallo, the point is:

how can one accept as a sponsor of a'Food Expo' sustainability and the need to offer healthy food to all peoples nothing less than Mr. McDonalds?!

to LucianoP,

you cited articles from 1998 and 1999. I wanted to say this not because I disagree with what those articles say, but to emphasize how such blatant criticisms of Bocelli, especially from the US press, have long since ceased to exist. Bocelli is an international phenomenon; "classical" criticism no longer even looks him in the face—on the contrary, to overcome a certain embarrassment, they continue to emphasize his role as an ambassador for this or that.

And so, first piece of nonsense: the talk about servants of the powerful. If this were a serious discussion (and, unfortunately, it is not)—that is, for example, if there were a degree thesis with your signature, or my signature, and a commission paid to judge that thesis, the question would be: who are the powerful? And from there, it would become nothing but a complete uproar. Accusations, of any kind, should be argued and filled with specific names and surnames, not enigmatic allusions. And on the blogs I read, which I think are the blogs almost all "classical" musicians read, Bocelli has been ruthlessly trashed. If there is someone who reads Il Giornale, that shouldn't concern us, and it shouldn't lead to cries of an international conspiracy. The new world order doesn't need Bocelli, in my opinion. And Bocelli does what the public allows him to do: namely, he sings, in his own way, a repertoire that he decides together with his agents; people buy his CDs all over the world and pay for his concert tickets all over the world. As I was saying to a friend who is lucky enough to make slightly deeper observations than those I am reading here, Bocelli's music does not have the meaning of classical music, but it has its value. What we could do is understand whether that value disgusts us or not, whether we think a fifty-year-old lady washing dishes and listening to Bocelli is doing something useful or not (admitting, of course, that demanding a deep understanding of music from her is very difficult).

That being said, I don't hate Bocelli, but I think that his presence sometimes overshadows others. I am enthusiastic that he did the opening concert of Expo, because I always empathize with the Malaysian gay thirty-somethings who, watching that concert, recognized him and associated him with Opera. With them, one cannot be a maximalist; one cannot demand reasoning about meaning, because their background culture is different from ours; they don't understand the difference between a well-sustained and homogeneous chest high note and "the same thing" achieved thanks to a microphone and favorable audio engineering. To do so would mean being stupidly maximalist, which is what I hate most about the classical music world.

It would be a different story if Bocelli were to open La Scala tomorrow. Then I would be pissed off.

A Ettore...

my parents have a restaurant; I have "tinkered" in the catering world, even if I cannot call myself a true professional. But I am a great enthusiast, and precisely because I have people in my family who work in it, I have always tried to understand the catering world from the inside.

McDonald's is a company, so it doesn't do volunteer work. This is a mandatory premise, and if our discussion ends up on how disgusting it is to live off the greed of others, well, then I will always answer that even the piadineria lives off the greed of others. And in the piadina there is lard, in the hamburger there isn't...

McDonald's is the largest restaurant chain in Italy. And it is one of the very few that has decided to manage its production chain. It manages to do so precisely because it is a fast-food chain; that is, all year round it knows it will ONLY need that type of product and can more or less calculate the quantity. In this way, it can decide to get, say, tomatoes always from the same producer and thus has an interest in optimizing their production to have a standard yield all year every year. Large-scale production, which is secondary and tertiary, manages to act on the primary sector (agriculture) more than a small restaurant can. Just this alone makes it an active part of the issue. And being an active part means that if McDonald's takes an interest in Expo, we should be VERY HAPPY, because it means that Ettore and Thallo, on a forum talking about something else entirely, will end up shining a light on the problem, monitoring more closely the quality, sustainability, and safety of the production chain that leads to McDonald's.

Regarding this supply chain, I have no doubts: it is one of the best. And I don't say this because I feel sympathy for McDonald's (and I DO feel sympathy for McDonald's, as I do for all fast food) but I say it because in Italy the laws are so stringent that they leave no room for doubt. The average Italian—and I would say global—restaurant DOES NOT have the production standards of McDonald's; it doesn't have precise times when cleaning occurs, it doesn't have"

standardized preservation systems, it does not have a strong management and control hierarchy, it does not have the number of controls that McDonald's has (no, because the average Apulian financier prefers to control McDonald's rather than his cousin's trattoria, and this is especially true in Italy where we reason based on sympathy), it does not have the contractual stability of McDonald's, it does not have the number of customers of McDonald's (the famous golden rule of catering: go to full restaurants, so you know the food is fresh).

If then we want to talk about the Mediterranean diet, well, that is not the point. Otherwise, at Expo, only Mediterranean states would have been invited.

Expo is not the porchetta fair, it is an event on nutrition, and at a nutrition event, in my opinion, private food entities MUST also be present, especially large catering chains. I hope there are others, actually I don't know, unfortunately in Italy these chains are so few that they rarely have a real interest in international policies on the subject. But if I think of US coffee chains like Starbucks, they really do influence the primary sector in large parts of the globe.

It is not the right section, certainly, but discussions on nutrition are much more than "McM*rda" and Slow Food. I am always a pain in the ass, as you can see, not just regarding music...

I think you are right Claudio on, at least, almost everything.

As for maximalism, precisely in these days and more generally and not just specifically, I increasingly think about how much damage it has done, not so much to the established order or to the "strong powers", but precisely to the ideas of those who have entrenched themselves in it in carrying out their own battles ...

Thallo's is an intelligent and realistic response

Notice for friends of the forum who are not from Milan and will come to see Expo. I am told that inside, a water costs 13 euros and a coffee 2.50 euros. I am not sure those money will help fight world hunger, so I advise you to bring your own sandwiches from home. I can even offer the coffee myself

jack wrote:

Notice for friends of the forum who are not from Milan and will come to see Expo. They tell me that inside, a water costs 13 euros and a coffee 2.50 euros. I am not sure those funds will help fight world hunger, so I advise you to bring your own sandwiches from home. I can even offer the coffee

Consolati Jack

http://milano.fanpage.it/expo-2015-lo-scontrino-choc-115-euro-per-un-pasto-nel-padiglione-giapponese/

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiseki

The dish ordered in that restaurant is part of kaiseki cuisine, the equivalent of our 3-star Michelin cuisine, but with a few hundred more years of history... the price paid by the guy is absolutely reasonable, and online there are also statements from the customer himself saying he ordered it with full awareness.

thallo wrote:

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiseki

The dish ordered in that restaurant is part of kaiseki cuisine, the equivalent of our 3-star Michelin cuisine, but with a few hundred more years of history... the price paid by the guy is absolutely reasonable, and online there are also statements from the customer himself saying he ordered it in full awareness.

That was exactly what I meant; even in the article I cited, reference is made to the customer's awareness.

The fact that a first course costs 13 euros tells us very little. A few free questions: based on what? Who prepares it? .... and at what level?

... therefore

And anyway.. In many large cities abroad you find the first ones at 15 euros and they are also inedible... Let's just say it's an average price and I am almost sure that it is of better quality than what you might find in other countries..

I have read some very interesting things and others much less so... The criticism regarding the expo should have been made before, not now that it exists. It is like being against soft drugs, not discussing them when legalization is being planned and then getting pissed off once they are found on tobacconists' counters; anyway, I have read many pro-expo posts, and I am against it for a million reasons. First of all, the excuse of creating new jobs to send people to work for 600 euros a month... I don't call that work, but exploitation. 2. It is a work that cost I don't know how many billions of euros, which will only be recouped after 64 million visits that they aim to achieve in six months... Difficult, but not impossible.

Regarding the opening concert. Lang Lang was nauseating; I don't think it needs to be said, but it seems the audience liked it—after all, we now live in this society where whoever is faster is better. Tomorrow I will also record myself at 3000 bpm instead of 2400 like Lang Lang, and maybe someone will notice me too.

Every time we get into these discussions about Lang, it makes me sick because it reminds me of the repeated arguments about football players, with people getting angry because they earn 10 million euros a season to run after a ball while the laborer breaks his back, to say nothing else, all day under the sun for 1000€. The point is that if people stop going to the stadium, maybe the players will have to work for 1000€ a month. The analogy with Lang Lang fits perfectly.

As for Bocelli, what do we want to talk about? On classical music, it's laughable and no longer news because they have destroyed it everywhere by now. I heard him sing the famous "ah mes amies" from a chesty 9 Do, and he sounded like a chicken being strangled. They showed up at the expo and probably didn't even rehearse once. Long live the God of money. For those with a musical ear, the performances of Lang and Bocelli shouldn't even be commented on; for 99.99% it was a loud success, and I will tell you that I am also tired of always talking about the same things.

Regarding the porchetta festival, they hold it here in my town every year in September and if you want, I'll host you. You will realize that to make the Milan expo, they are missing a few hundred thousand people, about 20 pavilions, a few hundred hectares of land, and at least another 30 kitchens from all over the world.

Just one thing Simone (just to rub it in, but said ironically even if it seems to be true): a musician friend of mine among my Facebook contacts wrote (before the opening concert) that while she was going to take the metro, she heard Bocelli rehearsing in the distance, so there is also "the aggravating factor" of the rehearsals having taken place.

... if a Bocconian says it, perhaps it's worth giving it some thought:

http://www.nuovatlantide.org/perche-lexpo-e-un-grande-errore/

it demonstrates practically nothing, it only casts doubt on the methodologies of the most well-known estimates, and always and only on a theoretical level. That is, if we were to uncritically accept what he writes, we would have to deduce that Portugal, thanks to its swimming pools, has greater growth potential than Italy.

When comparing graffiti and Expo architecture, HE ALSO uses a deliberately summary rhetorical language. He speaks of yet another convention center 10 km from the center, when instead the redevelopment of the Darsena, the creation of Porta Nuova and Piazza Aulenti, CityLife, and a whole series of other projects ARE NOT the exhibition hub. I might even agree with him when he says that one should keep expectations low and avoid triumphalist tones, but politicians use political language, and economists use economic language.

Furthermore, to return once again to the "musical" topic, I note how Carlo Boccadoro, renowned composer and director of Ensemble Sentieri Selvaggi, pointed out on his wall that he was inappropriately cited in an investigation "against" Expo.

I quote one of his public statuses on fb

"I have ended up, much to my chagrin, in a book by Gianni Barbacetto and Marco Maroni titled: 'Excelsior. Il gran ballo dell’Expo' (Chiarelettere editions).

The authors claim that I received 30,000 euros for my role as a juror in the 'Nutrire la musica' competition, born within Expo 2015.
I am also identified as the contact person for musical interventions in the municipality of Milan.
I explained to the publisher and to Barbacetto that I only received 3,000 euros (I even sent him the invoice); that 30,000 euros was the compensation for all 10 jurors; that I am not the contact person for anything at all.
Barbacetto replied to me that on the Expo website it appears this way, and that I should take it up with them.
In reality, on the Expo website, in the list of tenders, only my name appears for reasons of space and due to my bad luck of having a surname that starts with B (therefore, first in alphabetical order), but it is obvious that the indicated compensation is what was allocated for the entire jury. And certainly, the website does not speak of my non-existent roles in the cultural politics of the municipality.
At this point I would have expected, not apologies, but at least a public mention of the fact that untrue things were written in the book.
The most I obtained is the publisher's commitment to remove my name from future editions (if there are any) (he actually wrote to my lawyer: 'I confirm that in case of a reprint we will remove from the book Excelsior the entire section relating to the professor').
That is enough for me and I will stop here: I have neither the desire nor the time to start a lawsuit. I only regret the fact that it takes so much effort to bring a simple and objective truth to light."

A regardless of the facts themselves, this millennialist attitude bothers me. For some years now, any human activity has been seen, by some, as a possible sign of the apocalypse."

More material for reflection

http://comune-info.net/2015/04/expocrisia-2015-nutriamo-il-profitto/

What do I think?... I subscribe to everything.

A vast topic about which one could say everything and anything. Staying strictly within the musical aspects, I think the context is not properly Western high culture... in effect, the audience is large and varied in terms of social and cultural background, so in these cases the choices (performers/repertoire) cannot be one-sided and a single choice cannot please everyone.

Personally and musically speaking, I would have made choices oriented towards presenting a more contemporary Italy and not too "nineteenth-century quite."

@TheSimon

I remember when a few years ago a young pianist, at the time, appeared on the international scene who, in order to achieve fame, performed everything in reverse: forte? ...piano; crescendo? ...diminuendo; moderato? ...presto; allegro?...quasi adagio. This one instead pushes, playing on speed, which is doubly effective because... it astonishes. Of course, it astonishes the unwary, those who have no musical education even at a basic level, but it also gathers a few "paralytics" who love to idolize those who do what they themselves have approached in some way; I think back to the performance of the Turkish March, but with an unimaginable tightrope-walker skill. Everything is fine, one thing is out of place: the context. When we see a clip of the Marx Brothers playing the piano with great skill, we are fascinated because we think their specialty is not professional pianism but comedy; however, even if they played appropriately, it would pleasantly surprise us, no one watches them thinking of them as pianists. Here lies the error with this pianist: thinking of him as a pianist. If you shift the perspective, I see him with fake bushy mustaches, a big red nose, and a white tailcoat with exaggerated tails... well, then, no comedian can beat him; he becomes the king of the circus.

I must disagree with you, dear TTW, all great comedians or clowns are extremely musical (making people laugh is a matter of timing, therefore of the reduction of multiplicity), whereas the aforementioned wretch lacks any ability in this regard: he is a simple athlete with a sentimental inclination. The imbecilic face with which he performs—completely ignoring what is happening in the orchestra—his gymnastic preparation has, I confess, shocked me less than the sentimental insipidness with which he dared to perform one of the Davidsbündlertänze as an encore in a recital. Not one of the Marx Brothers would have been capable of such a butchery. Please, since musicians are now being discredited in such a way, let us at least save the category of comedians and clowns!!!

Given that I consider Lang Lang an extremely gifted pianist but at the same time an empty and "tacky" musician (I find no other terms that summarize the concept well), and this causes his feats to not be among my usual listens, I would like to play devil's advocate. Are you familiar with the well-known documentary "The Golden Age of Piano"? The part about Horowitz had a passage concerning exactly the famous octaves in the finale of this concerto, and one of the interviewees spoke with great admiration about the speed that the great virtuoso was able to achieve in that passage and the clamor it caused among critics and the public. In short, we are talking about the grand finale of a massive Romantic concerto, not Bach's Art of Fugue or the more intimate Schumann miniatures. I find this stigmatization of virtuosity (which should be contrasted with Music with a capital M) a bit sinister and clumsy; I consider it a senseless fad, also a symptom of a major difficulty today connected to a serene and natural enjoyment of classical music.
In LL's pianism and musicality, there are illustrious absences: can we not speak of them in a slightly more in-depth way without automatically contrasting true Music with virtuosity? Any musical aspect, even the increasingly rare one of a beautiful sound, if not balanced by a thousand other aspects that music requires, results in being an end unto itself.

Dino is also right, in my opinion: but the octaves played by Horowitz "from the gut" (his words) are one thing; the triviality and the sloppiness, the search for blatant emphasis, of exaggerated facial expressions; the continuous arbitrariness of tempos and their forcing, are quite another. Lucio Fontana, before the slashes, was a good artist. Then he saw through it, and went off the rails. The same seems to be the case with Lang Lang: virtuosity is perfectly fine, if one is also a musician. If one wants to "play a character," no. But one earns more.