Opera Chic fought too many hours of traffic on the slick roads from Salzburg to Milan this afternoon, and with the constantly falling rain and crowds, we vow to fly next time – no more awesome Rosenberger Autobahn restaurants, no more awesome green scenery, no more bootleg gas station shops to explore – we’ll take our chances. And we’ll tell you more about the Salzburg festivities later, as well as full reports from the very awesome Muti Don Calandrino.
Arriving cranky and exhausted to a chilly Milan, OC quickly showered and changed into a pair of Levis and Aspesi windbreaker thrown over gray-as-rain cashmere sweater, Paul Smith fold-up umbrella thrown into my LV Speedles 30, and headed down to La Scala where Barenboim was scheduled to grace the La Scala stage with a piano recital, an Omaggio all'Italia that still managed to bring out the crowds into a soggy evening.
Here's a quick recap, since OC is seriously in need of some beauty rest: Maestro Scaligero Barenboim took the stage and began bowing. Simultaneously, a La Scala page came dashing over to an elderly man sitting in the first row. He stood directly in front of said man, placing his hand over the man's camera for at least five seconds until the camera was put down.
Here's the fun part: At the first curtain call after the first three Liszt selections, Barenboim jumped up from his piano bench and stared directly at the violator, waving/wagging his finger at him angrily, scolding him for his prior recording actions. He was visibly pissed. He was like, “Don’t make me come down there and smack that camera out of your hand!”
The last work before the intermission (from "Années de pèlerinage. Deuxième Année. Italie": Après une lecture de Dante. "Fantasia quasi sonata") was stellar, and Barenboim flogged the piano like a raging animal. He pounded on the keys like a man with a vengeance…like he had a beef with the piano or something...like he had cast Orichalcum’s Most Holy WTF, and the house went wild with his mad orc rushing skills.
During the intermission, two little stage elves came out and mopped up a puddle (??) from underneath the piano bench, and then changed the old busted one with a new sweet model. After the intermission, Barenboim began three little parafrasi of Verdi (Il Trovatore, Aida, and Rigoletto), which were sweet and enjoyable.
But here’s what is teh suck: Barenboim performed the same program in Bologna two nights ago at the Auditorium Teatro Manzoni, and a very adorable reader from Bologna wrote me a synopsis. He told me that on Saturday night to the Bologna audience, Barenboim commanded an hour of encores, reaching into a Chopin-heavy repertoire, bringing the house down. WTF?! Tonight at La Scala, Barenboim came out for maybe three curtain calls, and then at the fourth, he pushed the piano bench towards the piano, and closed the keyboard! WTF? Snubbed! No encore. La Scala gets no love. ;__;
Honestly? We think he was going to find the detractor from the first row who tried to film him, and kick his a$$.