If rappers win the Tenco prize, tabernacle of songwriting, do you want a singer-songwriter not to be able to perform at La Scala, a symbol of classicism? Music has never been as fluid as in this era. And if abroad historic halls such as the Wiener Staatsoper or the Philharmonie in Berlin look beyond the symphonic and lyrical, the Italy of music split over Paolo Conte’s concert at La Scala. The controversy remained outside the foyer on Sunday evening. Who was here – about 2 thousand spectators for a sold out that arrived in 24 hours – had no doubts about the ownership of the chansonnier from Asti.
For an hour and a half, the show is divided into two stages, the Milanese theater has let itself be enveloped by unusual atmospheres for those velvets and those stuccos. The class, in the foyer and on stage, however, was what the theater is used to. Conte, 86 years old, put his scratched voice there, his painful and at the same time ironic way of singing of someone who has seen many in his long life. And not just because he also worked as a lawyer in the family firm. Then there are his songs that often have a more subtle appeal than opera had when it began as popular entertainment: vintage rhythms, jazzy touches, smoky evenings.
Dark suit and t-shirt, the singer-songwriter enters the scene and shields his eyes from the lights. Applause. He sits down at the piano and off he goes, with an ensemble of eleven elements and three backing vocalists, to embroider stories, to make the mind travel through time and onto the globe, to bring stories of the past but universal and private feelings that touch everyone, to give away «quintals of poetry» as «Recitando» says, one of the passages of the first act. Which had opened with the journey of «Aguaplano» and the first ovation at «Sotto le stelle del jazz».
There is no scenography. only Conte’s piano in the center and the platforms for the musicians. The lights play on chromatic pairs. It is not difficult to predict which one on «Grappling with a green milonga». The protagonists are the songs, even more than Conte is. He gets up for a couple of songs, puts on his sunglasses. And before the interval he places «Dal loggione», a story of glances and jealousies from inside a theatre.
In the second act “Away with me” it is the hit that cannot be missed, the Italian song at its maximum expressive levels. “Diavolo rosso” is a borderless ride with musicians free to go. True encore with «Via con me», choirs and clapping from the audience to keep time.
In the last few days it was Piero Maranghi, editor of the Classica HD channel (Sky), who spoke of «desecration» and «slap» to the tradition of La Scala with a letter to Sheet. Among those who answered Vittorio Sgarbi, Undersecretary for Culture, who also yesterday evening underlined the idea of a “universal” music.
Dominique Meyer, Superintendent and Artistic Director della Scala, welcomes guests in the foyer and removes a few pebbles from their shoes. It was he, at the request of Caterina Caselli, who found a hole in the billboard and accepted the challenge. «A controversy of little people who want to keep everything to themselves. La Scala is not a small club, it is an open theatre. I prefer those who build bridges to those who build walls». For the Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino, “Conte didn’t just write songs but he created an imaginary world”.
Giuliano Sangiorgi lightens the climate, frontman of Negramaro: «There is no risk that tonight a precedent has been created because no one can come after a great man like Paolo Conte: we, Negramaro or rappers like Lazza, won’t do the race, don’t worry». Vinicio Capossela also plays with irony: «Basically, operas are songs performed with a greater vocal range». There is also Biagio Antonacci: «That a sacred place for music opens up to songwriting of absolute quality like this seems to me an important inclusive signal». Madame, back from Sanremo, represents a world far away even from that of the chansonnier: «It’s a challenge to open up to songwriting and we hope that this show is only the beginning of a long series».