So we listened to a Chopin piano concerto performed by Boris Petrushansky Rusian-born but naturalized Italian; after the Chopin, Prokoviev's Cinderella suite, composed for ballet. After the concert, back to the tram stop.There's a certain ferment there, what's up? A notice telling us rather tersely that there is no tram but a SUBSTITUTE. The very… Continue reading Traumatic concert,continued..
Tag: Diary
Traumatic concert
Well actually it wasn't really the concert which was traumatic: it was the journey. I started off in very thick fog and I nearly gave up and came home, thinking about the return journey, which would be late and made amongst mad drivers fuelled by god-knows-what, going out to rave.!! Then I decided to risk… Continue reading Traumatic concert
Flippant Philosophy.
I've read 'em all. The Greeks, the great mystics, the Hindu gurus, the Buddhists, the Existentialists, but the other day I came to the conclusion that the best I can do is Piglet."What day is it ?" asked Pooh. "It's today", squeaked Piglet, "my favourite day".
Funny day: continued.
This evening, still raining. One of my favourite directors, Claus Peter Flor, directing one of my favourite pieces, Beethoven's Concerto for violin in Re maggiore op.61.This is a mind -blowing classical music experience, one of those which made me decide classical music was my scene. Certain parts of it cause me the Stendhal syndrome, I… Continue reading Funny day: continued.
Time to kill.
Today I had to kill time in a rather squallid part of Sesto San Giovanni. An area seemingly lacking in everything except mechanics ,funeral homes and Chinese emporia full of tacky Christmas plastic. I found a spartan bar manned by two ladies (then maybe womanned ?) from Eastern Europe. One of them was having fun… Continue reading Time to kill.
Giulio Cesare in Egitto ( Julius Caesar in Eygypt)
Monday evening at La Scala they put on a performance of Haendel's "Julius Caesar in Egypt", rare in Italy but popular in the rest of Europe,and unsurprisingly so , being such a perfect fusion of dramatic action and musical inventivity. Companies tend no longer to meddle with casting, the days they substituted the counter tenors… Continue reading Giulio Cesare in Egitto ( Julius Caesar in Eygypt)
Nordic Walking
My friend Catherine in a valiant but probably doomed attempt to keep us both fit invited me to go to try nordic walking. Luckily the day we were supposed to try, it rained so we had a week's grace, Unfortunately the next Sunday we woke up bright and early because we had put the clocks… Continue reading Nordic Walking
Nothing!
Can you really write about nothing? Daft question because people are doing it all the time nowadays. I could probably write a paragraph about its synonyms! Naught, nil, nix, zero, scratch, nul ,fuck-all...... My second idea for a title was"disappointment". What does that mean? You've dissed your appointments? I'd been looking forward to Friday like… Continue reading Nothing!
Grazzano Visconti
Last Sunday, Monza Garden Club went to Grazzano Visconti for a plant show. It was held in the grounds of the castle, a medieval structure built by Giovanni Anguissola in 1395 for his wife Beatrice Visconti and it is still in the hands of the Visconti family . It looks very much as you would… Continue reading Grazzano Visconti
Orticolario and good intentions
In Monza parking tariffs were awful as usual and train information was obscure. in fact we mysteriously paid a different price to go from the one we paid to come back. bst The journey is always a pleasure, but we arrived in Como, not Como lake or Como San Giovanni which we had asked for… Continue reading Orticolario and good intentions
English that grows 