"Music is dangerous": Nicola Piovani borrowed Federico Fellini's concept for the title of his show that landed last night in San Teodoro for the "Musica in crescendo" festival. A journey into cinema, which reached the night at the Oscars, and into songwriting that sometimes crosses singular paths. «Music is dangerous – said Fellini, – because it generates an irrational emotion». Emotions that Piovani tried to convey in words even before with music, excellently accompanied by Marina Cesari (clarinet sax), Pasquale Filastò (cello and guitar), Vittorino Naso (percussion drums), Marco Loddo (double bass), Sergio Colicchio (keyboards and accordion).
The story begins with the meeting with Fellini and his insistence on having in the soundtrack of "L'Intervista" a march that had already been used for a theatrical show. «It's already published, it's not elegant», says the young composer to the maestro. "And we care about being elegant?" the answer that ends the speech. "The Interview", "Ginger and Fred" and "La voce della luna" are accompanied by the music of Piovani while famous stills signed by the masters of cinema, from Monicelli to the Taviani brothers, scroll by.
Benigni is a separate story and is a chapter that includes the music of the entrances on stage, in the shows, the songs such as "Quanto t'ho loved", the films from "Pinocchio" to "La Vita è bella" which will also earn Piovani an Oscar of which, however, he does not speak. «Benigni is an expression of that peasant Italy, of the many bell towers that are the country's wealth».
For each song an anecdote. In "How much I loved you", the line "In love words don't count, music counts", an incursion by the composer accepted by the lyricists Benigni and Cerami. But even more singular is the genesis of the music of "Storia di un employee" and in particular Il bombarolo inspired by the three notes of the nuns' bells, in the institute where Piovani attended elementary school: "I wonder if the nuns will have ever known that they were the inspirers of a song that was censored because it was considered subversive".
An hour and forty of music and words was not enough to satisfy an enthusiastic audience and "La vita è bella" could not be missing for the encore ritual. Repeated surprisingly for a trio after thanks to the teacher and the plaque delivered by the deputy mayor. The last word belongs to the music.
