Season 2 Episode 12: Claudio Constantini--Concert Pianist, Recording Artist, Bandoneonist, & Composer

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Welcome back to the PianoPod. I'm Clarissa.
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Hi, everyone. I'm Yukimi Song.
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For anyone joining our show as an audience for the very first
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time, so glad you're here. Yukimi and I are both classical
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pianists and piano teachers from New York City. This podcast is
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for anyone who plays the piano for fun, loves listening to the
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piano music, or for someone who is pursuing a career in piano,
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or is simply curious about the world of piano music.
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In each episode, we interview a guest speaker who has been
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breaking exciting new ground in the music industry. Before
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getting started, we want to thank our listeners for tuning
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in. Please rate our show or review on Apple podcasts,
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because every rating and review will help people find our show.
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That's right. So for this episode, we are about to
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interview the sensational Peruvian pianist, bandoneonist,
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Mr. Claudio Constantini, who currently resides in Madrid,
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Spain. Yukimi discovered him through social media and shared
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with me one of his real posts on Instagram just a few weeks
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ago.
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Oh, yes, the one that he holds and plays the bandoneon on one
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hand and the other hand he plays the piano, right? And he is
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playing his original competition Genesis, I think.
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That's right. That is the one. Yeah, I really loved it. And he,
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you know, I've never seen anyone do that. And not only that,
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his musicianship. Oh my goodness. Wow, it was so electrifying.
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So Yukimi, tell us how more about how you discovered him.
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Sure. I mean, so you know, as podcasters, we're always
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searching for potential guests on our show. And we'll look for
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someone who is bringing new ideas or new ways to reach out
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to the audience into the classical music world, either
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through hashtags or random Instagram suggestions. When you
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tap the search icon on the app, I discovered that particular
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real post. And Mr. Constantini actually has many posts like
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that on his account. Anyway, I just could not help but Google
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him and find more video clips on YouTube and start listening
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to his music on Spotify.
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So glad you found him and shared a post with me. Just by
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watching it, I could tell he was a classically trained pianist.
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And when you look at his left hand playing the complete, you
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know, arpeggios. And of course, you know, he turned out to be
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an international concert pianist who performs in major concert
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venues around the world. So I can't wait to hear how he
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decided to incorporate these two instruments as part of his
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artistry. Yeah, me too. Well, he is here. So let's get the
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show started.
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You're listening to the piano part, where we talk to the
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brightest minds in the industry about how they're bringing the
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piano into the 21st century.
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We are very excited to introduce our guest of episode 12, Mr.
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Claudio Constantini, an internationally acclaimed Malta
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instrumentalist, piano and bandoneon, and a composer in
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demand. Born and raised in Lima, Peru into a musical family, his
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unique style is defined by its solid classical roots paired
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with a passion for popular music genres, among which Latin
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American music and improvisation play a key role.
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Mr. Constantini has performed worldwide in many of his
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masterpieces, such as Amsterdam's Concert Gabou, the
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Berlier Philharmonie, the Los Angeles Opera House, among many
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others. In the next season, Mr. Constantini will appear as the
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soloist with distinguished orchestras such as the WDR
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Symphony Orchestra Cologne, and the Robert Schumann Philharmonie.
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He will also premiere his own bandoneon concerto, which the
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piece was commissioned to commemorate Astor Piazzolla's
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centenary of birth, and perform a Rhapsody in Blue with the
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Tacoma Symphony in Seattle. Mr. Constantini has released six
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CD albums, one of them titled America has earned him a
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nomination for a Latin Grammy Award in 2019 in the category
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of best classical album. He has been working on the complete
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piano works by Claude Debussy, of which he has already released
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two albums, and the first volume was selected among the
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10 best albums of the year 2015 by Fanfare Magazine USA.
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So today we're going to cover topics including Mr.
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Constantini's upbringing, his career as classical pianist and
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bandoneonist, and his latest projects such as his brand new
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composition Genesis and recording of complete works by
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Debussy, and so much more. So Claudio, we're so honored to
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have you today and welcome to our show and thank you for
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joining us. Well, same to you. Thank you. It's a big pleasure,
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big pleasure to be here and to speak with you. I love your
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podcast. Thank you so much. Well, we, we love your work. So
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thank you. So it's mutual then. Oh, yes, that's very
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important. Yeah. Great. So, you know, I, you know, I, I, I
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found you on Instagram because, you know, we're always looking
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for someone to interview and then I happen to come across
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one of your Instagram posts and on your left hand, you were
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playing the piano on the right hand side, you're playing the
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bandoneon. I think you were playing the, your, your piece
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Genesis and I was just blown away. So I quickly texted
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Clara and shared the clip with her and we were like, oh my
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gosh, who is this? So first thing I did was I really wanted
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to share this music to my audience. So the idea is to put
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your piece into a playlist. So I asked your permission. You
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were like, so kind, you know, of course, please. Sure. So that's
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how we started our conversation and here we are. Here you are.
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You're here. So we're very happy now. So for the audience
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who are listening, I really highly recommend to start
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listening to his pieces, but I suggest that you should start
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with Genesis. I mean, it's just a perfect piece. Genesis is,
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you know, it's a start. So it was just, it's another level of
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tango, like, you know, Piazzolla was the new tango, then
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there's another level. So later we, we can discuss more about
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it, but Claudio, so you're tuning in from Spain, right?
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So you're tuning in from Spain and how is Spain? How is
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Madrid right now? Well, right now we're in winter, but it's
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quite, quite warm, quite warm outside. We got 17 degrees
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Celsius. I don't know how much that is in Fahrenheit, but it's
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very enjoyable. You can go to the street just like this. So
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you don't need that much, but it's unusual, highly unusual.
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But anyway, so Madrid is a wonderful city to live in. I
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get very inspired with the friendliness that I have here. I
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also live right next to a big park, Parque del Retiro, which
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is kind of like the central park of Madrid, much smaller, of
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course, but it's anyway, it's a big park and I love spending
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my mornings walking there and getting some fresh air and some
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inspiration. Wow, wonderful. Yeah, but you're not originally
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from there, you know, you're from Peru. So we're very curious
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to know your beginnings, how your musical study or musical
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journey started. So can we start from there? Yeah, sure.
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Well, my parents, both musicians, my mom is a conductor
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and my father was a pianist. So I was involved with music since
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I was a young child, since before I was born, actually. My
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mom conducted a concerto once while I was still in her belly.
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So I listened to music even before I was born. Nevertheless,
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I wasn't really interested in music until I was 12 years old.
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I could play the piano like I took some melodies by ear and I
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played them with finger, but that's as far as I could. But
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then when I was 12, I got so in love with, I fell so in love
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with music that I started playing piano all day long. So I
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learned really quickly and I woke up at five o'clock in the
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morning so that I could practice before going to school.
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And then when I came back from school, I was playing till the
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night. So it was absolutely crazy. And so I learned really
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quickly. I could enter to the conservatory there in Lima. I
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was there till 18. Then I left to Finland. I studied my
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bachelor's degree in Finland. Then I did my master's degree in
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Holland. And then I did a diploma in the Scola Cantorum
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in Paris. So that was my trajectory. Then I stayed living
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in the Netherlands for some years working there. And then I
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decided to come to Spain. Oh, wow. So you have such an
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incredible classical solid training, but it just it happened
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like almost like all of a sudden, like, you know, before
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then was like, you know, music was always there because of
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your, you know, upbringing, but all of a sudden, the desire
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just woken up with something and yeah, yeah, suddenly it was I
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remember exactly the reason. And it was that out of curiosity,
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I started putting the LP discs of my parents on the long play
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player. And I started recognizing the music that my
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mom conducted and that my father practiced at home. So
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Brahms and Chopin and Schumann and everything. And, and
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suddenly, I just, I saw it, I heard it like with new ears, in
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a way, and fell in love with it. How was the your schools like,
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or any particular teachers or events that really spoke to you
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or influenced you? Yes, I was very lucky with all my
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teachers. So my first teacher was my father. He was my teacher
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throughout my studies in Peru because he was a teacher at the
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conservatory. He was a very, very, very talented pianist. He
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actually graduated in Julliard. He was studying with Agustin
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Ganevas many years ago, and with Oksana Jablonska, also there in
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Julliard. And afterwards, when I went to Finland, I studied with
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with two different pianists, who were fantastic teachers,
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really fantastic people as well. They took me really much into
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care because, you know, I was a young boy who went to the other
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side of the world, and it was not always very easy, of course,
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it was very different than my culture. And it was also tough
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for me because I had to work a lot to be able to sustain my
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studies. But so they were great human beings, and they were
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great teachers as well. And finally, in the Netherlands, I
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studied with Aquiles de Levinje, who was a student of Claudia
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Rao, and he was a fantastic, fantastic master, one of the
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best teachers I've seen in the world, because I've taken many
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master classes and I've seen many classes. And he was really a
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special person. He knew how to nurture the best side of
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yourself, you know, how to... He taught you in a way how to find
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yourself, how to find your own voice, your own personality in
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the music. So he didn't teach anybody in the same way. His
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lessons were always full of people, they were like master
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classes, all of them. So when he gave a lesson, there were
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always like 40, 50, 60 people, even from different disciplines,
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you know, violinists and cellists who came to listen to
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the lessons because they were so intense and so interesting. And
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he was so generous. He actually passed away just two weeks ago
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or three weeks ago. So it's a big loss. Yeah, he was so very,
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very close to me. But anyways, he was probably the greatest
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musical influence I had in such a close relationship.
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It's always those mentors who change your life, you know? It's
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in such a way that sometimes it really influence or sometimes
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determines your career. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it sounds like
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you're very fortunate to have mentors like that. Wonderful.
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Yes, I consider myself very lucky.
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So, you know, we can't underestimate the power of
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social media, right? Like, we feel like we are posting it for
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nothing. But actually, you know, we discover each other here. So
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yeah, you never know what will catch the attention of whom I
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mean, it's, it's a really interesting times. It never
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before. Exactly. And then with this zoom, I mean, hello, we're
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in New York, and you're in Madrid, and we're talking
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something quite intimate. So it's a very interesting thing.
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Anyway, so we want to know that your performance career, I
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realized that you're you have substantial, not only the
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background, but also career path as a soloist as a solo
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classical pianist. So and you performed with numerous
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orchestras and so forth. So can you tell us your brief, let's
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say history and your career in your musical career as a
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pianist? Well, my career is always it has always been
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difficult for me to actually define what I do, because I do
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so many different things. I mean, for me, it's really clear
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in my head, I like this, and I like that, and I do this, and I
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do that. But it's very hard for me to communicate that to
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people. Because, you know, if you are an Apple distributor,
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and you also sell chickens, then it's like, what are you
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doing? You don't you don't get a clear message. So that's, that
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has always been a source of conflict for me when I present
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myself to the public. So as a pianist, I started with a
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very, very linear classical, classical path in mind,
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especially while I was a student when I was studying, of
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course, I was completely immersed with my studies and
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with the classical repertoire. And the real change started
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when I bought my first bandoneon. I was about 20, 21
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years old. And then my horizon expanded somehow. Which is
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funny, because before, and when I was in Lima, I used to work
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in a piano bar, and I always played popular music, I always
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played a bit of jazz, I always played Latin American music,
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but that was kind of like the hidden side of me. And when I
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brought the bandoneon in, this flourished in a professional
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way, not just in an amateur way. And it influenced a lot of
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my piano playing, of my piano, of the decisions that I would
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take further as a pianist. And so I tried to mix them up as
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much as possible. I try to play when I can, I try to play
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piano and bandoneon on the same evening, on the same recital.
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Even if it's with an orchestra, I often play a piano concerto
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and a bandoneon concerto on the same orchestra, because I
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feel like one instrument only fills one side of me and not
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the full picture. So I try to offer the full picture. And
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specifically with piano, I've specialized, I've tried to focus
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in specific projects, you know, so not really like before I
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wanted to play all the repertoire, but then when I
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started recording, then I started focusing more. The first
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classical album I did was with Debussy. And so that was a big
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focus and it certainly changed and influenced a lot of my
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playing and of my performing preferences, because there's
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actually a phrase by Arthur Rubenstein, who's my favorite
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pianist ever. I love him. And he said that you should never
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play a piece that you don't feel absolutely comfortable with.
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So if you don't, of course you can study everything, you
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should study, you should learn by yourself. But if you have
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trouble communicating with a piece, then you should not
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concentrate on that one. You should concentrate on what you
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really feel that is yours. And there's people who can manage
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that with a vast repertoire, but mostly people feel more
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comfortable with expressing their, I mean, their
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personality is expressed better with a specific composer or
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specific type of music. So that's something I've taken to
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heart.
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You know, Claudio, honestly, to me, the message you're giving
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is very clear to us. So I think it's the contrary of what you
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think about yourself. But everybody goes through this
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phase where, you know, we have this discipline of, let's say
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classical music or some other disciplines, and then, you know,
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tradition that you inherit from the previous generations,
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right? Then all of a sudden you hit the point where, wait a
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minute, that's who I am too. But I am also, I have this other
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side of myself and you feel like there's a disconnect, but
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it's actually connected. And so, but that makes you a very
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interesting artist and that makes you a unique artist. So
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the message is very clear. And so that's why I wanted to know
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more about you as an artist and as a person. So there's one
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thing I wanted to ask. So speaking of that, as a
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classical pianist, let's say right now we're going to focus
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on you as a classical pianist, and then you're currently
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working on Debussy works, right? You're trying to record
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entire Debussy collection. So, and then I saw on Spotify you
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produced CD-Alma, first one and the second one. So what's your
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obsession about Debussy? How do you relate to the pieces, works
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of Debussy? Well, Debussy is very special to me. I think
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that he's one of the few composers that when I play his
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music or when I hear his music played, it sounds like it's
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being created on the spot. It's really, it has a spontaneous
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feel to it, such a spontaneous feel. And it's like really like
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it would be improvised in the moment. And it speaks from so
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deep within. You know, there's a big difference for me between
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Ravel and Debussy, who are like the two big representatives of
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so-called impressionistic music. In my mind, Ravel looks
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backwards, kind of like Brahms, you know, Brahms coexisted with
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Liszt, but his kind of writing was coming from Beethoven or
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from, you know, looking back while Liszt was looking
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forward. And for me, the same thing sort of happens with
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Ravel and Debussy. Debussy had his imagination was somehow
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less fixed than Ravel's. Of course, this is not better or
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worse. It's just a characteristic of his music.
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Ravel's framework somehow, actually, you know, Ravel is the
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next composer. I'm going to record the full music once I
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finish Debussy. And Ravel is, there's a funny thing about
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putting oneself limitations. It actually gives, it can give
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you more freedom because Ravel puts strict forms in his,
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stricter forms, or more or less than Debussy in his music and
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somehow creates a magnificent piece of music and his
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imagination flourishes within that framework. Debussy cannot
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use really a framework. His imagination is free. He does,
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cannot have constraints. So it's, it's coming from his child,
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childish heart in a way. So I feel very identified and
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connected with this.
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We just got to hear the inside scoop about your future
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project, which is Ravel. So we can't wait for that.
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That's wonderful. And then you also have this another album,
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well, classical music album, which is called America. When I
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heard there were, let's say, original pieces composed by
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Gershwin, but also, is the summertime variations composed
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by you?
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It's my composition.
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Yeah, they were incredible. I mean, one of the variations
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really literally sounded like Debussy. Yeah, there was that.
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Most probably, yeah.
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I love.
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Yeah, go ahead.
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While we're here, Claudio, you mentioned earlier before we
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started the interview that you were in Paris for a few years
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or in France. How long were you there?
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Well, I was actually, I never lived in Paris. I lived in the
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Netherlands and I was studying in Paris. So I was going twice
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a month and staying a few days to study because it was, it's
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called La Scola Cantorum and it's a school that was founded
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by Gabriel Foret, Cesar Frank. And actually, I received, it
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was such a special place. I received my lessons in the same
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place where Cesar Frank's organ was. So he was playing and
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composing there. It was so inspiring. It was amazing. And
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you know, this year is Cesar Frank's anniversary. He's also
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a great composer who I love. And anyways, so I didn't really
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live there, but I was studying there. So going there back and
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forth.
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Do you think that has a lot of impact on why you're loving
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French music so much?
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Yeah, probably. Yeah, probably. So, probably. So I guess I'm
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absolutely in love with Paris. I have two favorite cities in
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the world, Paris and New York, completely different cities.
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They're my favorite ones.
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So you're going to come here then soon.
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Yeah.
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Yes. When you're here, we'll take you everywhere. So please
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let us know.
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Yes.
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Wonderful.
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Wonderful.
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Great. So America, so we live in America. So and then you
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are originally from Peru, which is Latin America. So let's
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talk about your city, back to America. I love the
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arrangement of Piazzolla pieces on the piano, right? And then
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Yeah.
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I particularly love the Verano Porteño because that's one
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of my favorite pieces by Piazzolla. So I want to talk
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about Astor Piazzolla. I mean, if you talk about Bandoneo, if
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you talk about tango music, obviously, he's God. So we have
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to talk about him. I don't know where to start even. But tell
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us your feeling, your influence from.
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Well, I discovered Piazzolla in the same way as I discovered
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classical composers, which is by a city at home, which my
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parents had. And the music sounded fascinating to me. I
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actually had never heard of Bandoneon before. So I had no
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idea where the sound came from. I didn't know what the
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instrument looked like because the CD didn't have a picture.
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So I imagined like some kind of weird instruments. So I could
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only imagine. And years later, there was of course no
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internet. There was internet, but at home when I was a child
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in Peru, we didn't have any internet. So I couldn't even
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research on the net. So years later, I discovered what
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Bandoneon looked like. And I learned that it was absolutely
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difficult to play because it was a very complicated
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instrument. I fell in love with Piazzolla's music from the
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first minute because it was spoken in such a direct way,
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passionate way, and honest way with such sincerity. There's
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a phrase by Piazzolla that he said that he plays the
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Bandoneon standing up while the traditional Bandoneonists play
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sitting down. And he said that he stood up, he played the
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Bandoneon standing up because he wanted to have it closer to
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his heart. And that's where all his music came from. And
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that's how it sounds to me, Piazzolla's music.
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So Claudio, I, you know, to prepare for this interview, I
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did some research, but I realized I really don't know what
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this instrument is. I have never seen one in person. So I'm
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very curious.
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It's over there.
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Oh, okay. Can you like maybe describe to our audience that
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might also be a little clueless like me?
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00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,520
Yeah, sure. Sure. Well, I'll bring it closer so that you can
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get a glance.
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Yeah.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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This is a...
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It is similar to an accordion. Yes, actually a kind of like a
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cousin of the accordion.
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Oh, good.
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So it has bellows in the middle, open like this, and it
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has the keyboard like this. Yeah. And it's a very, very
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complicated system.
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Beautiful.
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Because you know, when you press a button, and you open
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the bellows, you get a note. And when you close the bellows,
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you get another one. So that means the keyboard changes.
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So for example, if I have C, I open it, and then I press the
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same one and close it. And it's a D.
400
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Wow.
401
00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:01,400
Yeah. And there's no relation whatsoever. I mean, it's not,
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there's no interval relationship. It can be a fourth,
403
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it can be a second, a third. So it's really, really crazy
404
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:09,320
instrument to learn.
405
00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:14,200
That is beautiful. When did you start learning this instrument?
406
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:19,080
When I was about 21 years old, I was living in Finland.
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I was living in Finland, and I bought one, I asked for a loan,
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and I bought one. It came from Buenos Aires, all the way from
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Buenos Aires. I bought it by mail, so I couldn't even get to
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see it. But it was good, unfortunately.
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Oh, that's so beautiful. Yeah, I always love accordions.
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And, you know, I grew up in China, and over there, in the
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beginning, I remember I had the choice of learning keyboard or
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accordion, but I was so small. And I was like, I can't carry
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this. This is so heavy. You know, so it was like a popular
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instrument. And fast forward, my teacher, actually, I still
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have a teacher, he's Argentinian, and he plays with
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accordionist very often. So I get to listen to it. I mean, at
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least pre pandemic. So it's a beautiful, beautiful instrument
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that I... Yeah, very, very good.
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Very warm. And so I know you said you started studying it
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when you were older, right?
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21, yeah.
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And how were you able to eventually sort of match that
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within the piano? And did you have to like, how long did you
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have to practice every day to become really good at it?
427
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I actually quit playing the piano in order to be able to
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learn it. When I finished my bachelor degree, I quit playing
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piano for almost two years. And I dedicated full time to the
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bandoneon. And then I came back to the piano and I did...
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So you were 21 to 23?
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Yeah, well, not really. I was 22 or something, I was 23.
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When I bought the bandoneon, I still had to finish my piano
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studies. And so I did that with the bandoneon. I dedicated
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fully to that, to learning music, to listening to music,
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transcribing music, and getting to learn the instrument on my
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own, of course, because there was no teacher there.
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Wow.
439
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So it was a big, big challenge, very big challenge. But I was
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so dedicated that within six months of having had my
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bandoneon, I had my first concert.
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Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. I would love to come to your
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bandoneon. When you come to New York, you have to bring...
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Well, I'm sure you will. I can't help but be sure.
445
00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:35,640
Yeah, I would love to. I would love to go.
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When did you realize this was part of your identity as a
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musician? Because you were starting out as a classical
448
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musician, and then you discovered this instrument,
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then you got obsessed, and then now this is part of you as an
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identity, right?
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Yeah, I couldn't say exactly because, you know, when I bought
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it, I thought that I'm never going to be able to play at a
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professional level because it's such a difficult instrument to
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play, and I'm actually a pianist. So, you know, I was kind
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of lying to myself and putting a limit to myself, which I
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shouldn't have. But anyways, I said something, but I acted
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otherwise. I acted as if I'm going to dedicate to this.
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And I think that the bandoneon was a part of me even before I
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started playing it, because I listened to music with bandoneon
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before I got the instrument, and it was the music I listened
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to the most, actually. Piazzolla music and other Argentinian
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tango players as well.
463
00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:48,600
You dedicate this one piece to celebrate Piazzolla's 100th
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birthday, birthday year, which was last year. So you composed
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a bandoneon concerto, correct?
466
00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:57,880
Yes, yes, that's right.
467
00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:00,840
Can you tell us a little? And you are about to perform this
468
00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:04,360
next year in the United States, so can you tell us more about
469
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:04,840
it, please?
470
00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:09,880
Yeah, sure. This was a commission from an orchestra
471
00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:13,880
here in Spain, in Andalusia in the south. So we did the
472
00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:19,560
premiere in April of last year, of 2021. We played two
473
00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:24,840
concerts, and then I played it also in July with Malaga
474
00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:30,920
Philharmonic in Spain also. And I'll perform it, as you said,
475
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:36,040
in Seattle. I can't remember now if it's in March 2023, and
476
00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:38,280
that's going to be with the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra.
477
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:43,960
And it's a great opportunity. So this concerto is about 30
478
00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:49,480
minutes long, it's three movements. So it's an attribute
479
00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:54,280
to Piazzolla, and in a sense, it has a lot of Piazzolla
480
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:58,680
elements, but it's modeled as a classical concerto. So it has
481
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:02,040
the classical concerto form, especially the first movement,
482
00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:05,640
it is quite structured, you know, with the concerto form.
483
00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:13,160
I wanted to create a music which is not too contemporary
484
00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:20,520
in sound, so that it can reach, so that a wider amount of
485
00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:25,560
public, of audience can understand it. So it is kind of
486
00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:29,400
modern in a way, it doesn't use traditional harmony all the
487
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:35,880
time. But it's quite simple, if you compare it to modern
488
00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:39,800
academic music. It's not a tonal, it's always in tonality.
489
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:44,600
And it's very melodic as well. So I wanted to make it very
490
00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,400
enjoyable, because it's also quite long, 30 minutes long,
491
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:52,520
it's quite a long piece. For full orchestra as well, there's
492
00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:57,800
not many bandoneon pieces for orchestra, not even Piazzolla
493
00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:01,880
himself composed such large scale pieces. I mean, he
494
00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:07,000
composed concertos, but the orchestration is usually for a
495
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:10,040
chamber orchestra, so it is either strings or either strings
496
00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:13,880
and winds, so not a full symphonic orchestra.
497
00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:16,280
Is there any way we can listen to this?
498
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:19,800
Yeah, it's on YouTube, the premiere is on YouTube.
499
00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:24,920
Oh wow, really? Okay, so we can just type in, what's the title
500
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:25,720
of the piece?
501
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:28,440
Bandoneon Concerto, but now I have to look up how it's
502
00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:31,240
actually put on YouTube, so that you can find it.
503
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:31,720
Yes.
504
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:34,840
Because I don't remember if it's in English or in Spanish,
505
00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:38,680
because it also has a subtitle, which is Concerto Porteño.
506
00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:44,680
And Concerto Porteño is like, you know, Estaciones Porteños
507
00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:49,480
from Piazzolla. Porteño means that it's from Buenos Aires,
508
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:53,400
because Buenos Aires is the port city, and the people from
509
00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:56,600
Buenos Aires refer to themselves as Porteños.
510
00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:59,080
Oh, I see, okay. Wow.
511
00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:01,880
Yeah, so that's why it's named like this.
512
00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:05,960
Just let us know the link later, and then we'll make sure
513
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:09,800
to put that in the description section in this YouTube,
514
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:14,120
and also in that simple cast, so that everybody can watch it.
515
00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:17,880
So with this, you know, Piazzolla influence, you have
516
00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:23,800
the album called Obstinado, and are they all pieces by Piazzolla?
517
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,360
No, Obstinado are mostly my own pieces.
518
00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:28,920
There's just one or two Piazzolla.
519
00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:33,000
Oh, I see, wow. And then you have also that album called
520
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:36,200
20th Century Tango and Piano Cosmos.
521
00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:41,480
And so Piano Cosmos are all original, your piano solo
522
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:45,960
compositions of tango music. And a 20th Century Tango,
523
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,360
was that arrangement or...?
524
00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:52,280
20th Century Tango is an album which I recorded with my wife,
525
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:56,920
who's a pianist, and I'm playing the piano,
526
00:34:56,920 --> 00:35:01,000
and I'm performing bandoneon in this album, so it's a piano
527
00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:05,240
bandoneon duo. And the idea there was to play tango
528
00:35:05,240 --> 00:35:08,600
compositions of classical composers. So there's tango of
529
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:15,160
Soti, of Stravinsky, of Milot, Schnittke, and they are paired
530
00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:18,200
with some traditional tango composers such as Dino Salusi,
531
00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:22,760
or Horacio Stamponi, or Horacio Salgan, or Piazzolla.
532
00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:25,320
So you have a contrast there.
533
00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:27,720
Stravinsky wrote a tango music?
534
00:35:27,720 --> 00:35:28,920
He wrote one tango, yeah.
535
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:29,320
Really?
536
00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:33,480
It's originally for piano solo. It's a very short tango.
537
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:37,240
Very interesting. Just every day I learn something new.
538
00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:39,960
That's why I love what I do with this podcast.
539
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:42,280
You have worked with a lot of orchestras, right?
540
00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:45,000
As a pianist and also as a bandoneonist.
541
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,880
I'm still learning the language of the bandoneon.
542
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:50,360
It's hard, yeah. It's hard to play and it's hard to pronounce as well.
543
00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:53,640
That's right. I have to learn how to do the pronunciation first.
544
00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:57,880
So how was your experience working with all these different orchestras?
545
00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:05,480
Well, fantastic. Last year I played with quite a few, maybe like 30 or something.
546
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:06,120
Oh my goodness.
547
00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:09,640
Yeah, in Spain. So practically all the Spanish orchestras.
548
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:13,000
And it has been great, really, really great.
549
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:16,200
I've performed my own concerto. I've performed Piazzolla's concerto.
550
00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:22,680
I've performed Gershwin. I've performed some piano arrangements of myself,
551
00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:28,840
of Latin American pieces. So it's been a lot of different repertoire.
552
00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:33,960
I love playing with orchestras. It's one of the things I enjoy the most.
553
00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:38,440
Usually you don't get to do that so much, but this year has been quite unusual
554
00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:40,840
in the number of orchestras that I've played with.
555
00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:45,720
And I think you're really setting up a good example for all the musicians in the world
556
00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:50,600
that it's possible. Even during a pandemic, you're able to work with so many different
557
00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:55,800
orchestras. It must have been a very exhilarating experience during this time.
558
00:36:56,680 --> 00:37:00,440
But live music is not as present as it used to be.
559
00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:08,360
So it's beautiful. And I know that you sometimes play, we talked about this before,
560
00:37:09,240 --> 00:37:15,320
you play on one hand on piano and the other hand on bodonia. How do you even balance that?
561
00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:19,080
Well, that's a crazy thing.
562
00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:24,120
No, actually, I saw a Finnish bandonianist doing that.
563
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:31,160
Yeah, a Finnish bandonian is called Mikko Helenius. He's a wonderful musician and a friend of mine.
564
00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:36,680
And once he tried it out and I thought, oh, that's crazy. That's impossible.
565
00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:45,160
He must be a genius. And I told this once to another friend of mine who I often play with,
566
00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:50,760
who's Erwin Schrott, he's a world famous baritone opera singer. And he told me,
567
00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:54,200
next concert we do together, we're going to play like this. You're going to play piano
568
00:37:54,200 --> 00:38:00,440
and bodonian and I'm going to sing together with you. So he challenged me. And so I took
569
00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:07,080
the challenge and we did it. We played in the Munich Opera House, over 2000 people.
570
00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:12,360
And I did that there for the first time together with him.
571
00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:19,080
Wow, so special. I think these days that we were talking about social media, right? That's like
572
00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:24,920
the new age. A lot of things really happen with like these 100 day practice challenges or, you
573
00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:29,800
know, like all kinds of different challenges it comes about. And then we kind of force to our
574
00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:35,640
limit. Okay, let's do it publicly. And so are you just mostly doing this for fun or do you intend
575
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:43,960
to actually make a recording of that? I was doing it just for fun in the past years, but actually
576
00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:51,160
my next show, my next big project, which is my next album, I'm going to perform it in that way.
577
00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:57,080
So I'm going to perform on piano and on bandoneon, both separately and together. And I'm busy now
578
00:38:57,080 --> 00:39:01,800
learning all the parts. The first show is going to be in April, the end of April. So I've still got
579
00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:06,600
a couple of months to learn it, but it's really probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
580
00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:15,960
So no, no Rachmaninoff or no Ravel is as hard as this. I'm sitting here thinking like, you know,
581
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:20,280
before the show you were sharing that you work out every morning and listen to the podcast. I'm
582
00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:25,640
thinking, wow, this has to be like, it's not exactly light, right? It's pretty heavy too. So
583
00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:34,360
to be able to balance and that. Yes, but I found a way. I've tried it out quite a lot and I found a
584
00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:41,400
way. Actually I use a strap to strap it to my leg, to one of my legs. So then I have a better balance
585
00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:47,080
and it doesn't fall out because that was actually the main issue, how to actually get a good sound
586
00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:53,240
because if you're not in control of the instrument, then the sound is weak. Wow. So that's such a unique
587
00:39:53,240 --> 00:39:58,520
combination. And you're probably one of the first people to do this in the whole entire world, you
588
00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:04,760
know? And so we can't wait to, you know, hear the recording of it eventually. It's so cool.
589
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:11,480
That's right. Was that a pandemic project or like something to do during? Okay. So we have to speak
590
00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:18,040
about pandemic. Obviously this has changed all of us, especially particularly musicians, how
591
00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:24,600
not only we lost the opportunity of live performance, but, and most of us, that was the
592
00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:32,120
livelihood. Now then, you know, we had to shift attention toward more digital world and then maybe
593
00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:37,320
that's one of the reasons you started some something silly, something to have fun, but yet now
594
00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:42,280
like maybe you're trying to make recordings or something like that. So can you tell us about
595
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:50,600
the effect of pandemic? Sure. Yeah, actually the pandemic, when it hits, suddenly all my concerts
596
00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:59,000
got canceled, of course, and I spent most of the year with no performances, no income. So it was a
597
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:05,640
very tough time emotionally and financially, just like for everybody else. But I think it was
598
00:41:06,360 --> 00:41:11,080
probably one of the most positive things that has happened to me in my life was to
599
00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:19,000
get the opportunity to shut everything off and rethink many things musically, personally.
600
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:26,760
It has been a really new beginning for me as a person, especially as a person. And of course,
601
00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:32,840
this affects the music because I don't think that you can separate one from the other. I learned to
602
00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:39,000
be absolutely honest with myself and with the decisions that I make and with the things that I
603
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:47,720
value and the things I stand by. And this affected all the musical decisions and paths that I took.
604
00:41:47,720 --> 00:41:58,920
Piano Cosmos actually is, which is a series of five EP, so five short albums, was the product of the
605
00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:08,120
pandemic. So I sat at the piano every day for hours just writing music and playing. And I selected
606
00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:14,840
pieces from what I wrote and I decided to go to a studio, record them and publish them without
607
00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:20,840
really expecting to do much with that in terms of concerts, because of course there is no possibility
608
00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:28,120
of concerts. But I just wanted the music to exist other than just in my head. And that's why Piano
609
00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:36,120
Cosmos exists. And in a kind of sense, which is my upcoming album and project, of which Genesis is
610
00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:49,400
the first single, it's actually a conceptual album. I don't really speak about it in a concise or open
611
00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:58,600
way, but I planned it from... I did a short story. I imagined a short story, a story of things coming
612
00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:07,880
from the subconscious, like the spiritual side of oneself and how many things are not erased,
613
00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:16,680
but blocked by all the things that we have to go through in our lives. Even artists tend to
614
00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:23,320
go in straightforward paths. You study, you try to get a job or you try to get concerts or you try
615
00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:28,760
to do this or that, because you know the paths of all the people that have come before you. So you try
616
00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:33,800
to imitate the ones that you prefer, the ones you like the most or the ones that you would
617
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:42,600
wish that you would do. And on the way you might forget or you might oversee many things which
618
00:43:43,240 --> 00:43:50,360
could be important to you, which are important actually to you. And one of them is for me the
619
00:43:50,360 --> 00:44:00,520
connection to other people. And this is something that I really concentrate a lot in my music and
620
00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:05,960
in my performances. And that's one of the things I actually love about social media is that I can
621
00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:15,560
directly communicate with people in an open and honest way, and in an immediate way, by a post or
622
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:22,600
by a live or by a real or by whatever. And I take this in the music that I perform also publicly.
623
00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:29,240
And in kind of sense this project which started in the pandemic has all to do with that. It has to
624
00:44:29,240 --> 00:44:34,840
do with everything that comes from the subconscious and all the possibilities that we don't nourish
625
00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:42,680
because of these blockages. And so it's really the story of the journey of the person from the
626
00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:50,440
subconscious towards a sort of enlightenment and connection with everything and with the surroundings
627
00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:57,480
and with the people. So yeah, that's kind of like the short version of the story in kind of sense.
628
00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:07,000
That's pretty deep. And yeah, but these things you think during a time like pandemic where, you know,
629
00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:13,800
everything has stopped and you just have to, I don't know, it's a scary time and it makes us feel so
630
00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:22,280
vulnerable and search or answer. And sometimes you, whether you are religious or not, you just look up
631
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:28,600
and just pray for something, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because there's things that are just bigger
632
00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:37,800
than oneself. And it's very easy to forget if you live a busy life in which you concentrate on just
633
00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:42,200
a few things, even if they're very important things. Once you concentrate on a few things,
634
00:45:42,200 --> 00:45:48,200
you're immediately overlooking others. And everybody is destined to do that, of course,
635
00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:54,280
but there are certain levels, you know. You can overlook a few things or many things. And
636
00:45:54,280 --> 00:46:02,520
and I took a holistic, I don't know if that's the right word, but a holistic approach to life,
637
00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:09,880
concentrating in all of my surroundings. I started to meditate, I started to read a lot
638
00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:17,800
and listen to podcasts a lot and that being more aware of the immediacy of the moment.
639
00:46:18,440 --> 00:46:21,480
Have you started meditating for a long time or is this
640
00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:28,760
a new thing during the pandemic? During the pandemic, I started actually, it's been maybe
641
00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:35,800
a year and a half since I was meditating. And I've been wanting to do it before because I
642
00:46:36,520 --> 00:46:44,040
learned all the benefits it had, but I didn't know how to do it. So I investigated a lot. And
643
00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:54,200
finally I found that transcendental meditation works very well for me. Yes, I'm a TM practitioner.
644
00:46:54,200 --> 00:47:01,560
Yes, wonderful. Yeah, well, that's wonderful. Yeah, so I do it every day and it has changed.
645
00:47:01,560 --> 00:47:06,600
I mean, a lot has changed because of that. Of course, it's not only that, it's an approach to
646
00:47:06,600 --> 00:47:12,520
everything because once you start changing one thing, like you want to have better health,
647
00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:17,560
and so you start eating better, but maybe you also want to go to the next level and you meditate,
648
00:47:17,560 --> 00:47:24,360
then you do exercise and then good things just start piling up. So it's a, I like to
649
00:47:25,720 --> 00:47:33,080
try to get used to good habits. We do this thing where we try to keep ourselves busy all the time
650
00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:38,520
because we don't want to be in that place, you know, because it's such a scary place to be.
651
00:47:38,520 --> 00:47:45,560
But this pandemic taught us it's not as scary as you think, and you have to come back to yourself,
652
00:47:45,560 --> 00:47:51,800
you know, and meditation, of course, is one of the tools to help you to get there. But
653
00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:57,080
there are so many other ways to connect with yourself. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that.
654
00:47:57,960 --> 00:48:04,600
So you mentioned briefly about, you know, Genesis. So let's talk about Genesis, right? So that's,
655
00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:11,960
that's the first thing I heard on Instagram, and I just couldn't help but sharing that to Clara
656
00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:19,000
first. And Clara was like, Oh my gosh, who is this? What is this? And then this is a new level of
657
00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:27,320
tango. I mean, you know, you talk about Piazzolla is nuevo tango, but what is this Genesis? So tell
658
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:35,160
us about this, you know, your composition, but also, there is an album, this is one of the 12
659
00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:42,040
pieces of this album coming up. Yes. So can you tell us a little bit more? Yeah, sure. Well, this,
660
00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:50,680
this album is called Imkandescence, as I said, and Genesis is the first piece. It's, I mean,
661
00:48:50,680 --> 00:48:59,720
the album is a mixture of many of my influences as a composer, as a classical composer, as a
662
00:48:59,720 --> 00:49:08,520
tango performer, and as a jazz musician. So it's, I don't like really putting labels, but if I would
663
00:49:08,520 --> 00:49:17,000
have to say what it is, it's kind of like a jazz fusion album, I would say. So when you hear
664
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:22,280
bandoneon, you hear tango. That's kind of, if you know the bandoneon, if you know the tango,
665
00:49:22,840 --> 00:49:28,440
the sound is of the tango. So there's always going to be a little bit of that. But I always,
666
00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:35,880
I always try to take the bandoneon out of the context of tango, because actually its origin
667
00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:41,880
has nothing to do with tango. It's a German instrument, which was invented to play in churches,
668
00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:50,600
you know, church music and salon music as a piano would play. And it got to Argentina to the tango
669
00:49:50,600 --> 00:50:00,760
by accident. So it's really a versatile instrument. And in Genesis, and in the whole of the album
670
00:50:00,760 --> 00:50:06,840
Imkandescence, I, is one of the things I do to show this versatility of the instrument. And of
671
00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:12,440
course, in this album, I also play the piano. So I overlap, I overdub myself playing the piano and
672
00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:17,480
playing the bandoneon. And actually sometimes there's even more than one bandoneon or even more
673
00:50:17,480 --> 00:50:23,640
than one piano at the same time. So I play over myself a few times. Of course, the show is going
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00:50:23,640 --> 00:50:32,440
to be just in quartet format. I have to rearrange the music so that it fits. But the album, I really
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00:50:32,440 --> 00:50:39,960
didn't want to put any limitations to myself. If I thought that a second piano is needed here, I just
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put it in. And that's it, because it's such a conceptual album. And Genesis is, I spoke about
677
00:50:47,320 --> 00:50:53,320
the subconscious. So Genesis actually does subconscious, is the piece in which many themes
678
00:50:53,320 --> 00:51:01,720
will reappear in later pieces throughout the album. And this is generating all these ideas
679
00:51:01,720 --> 00:51:07,480
and all these melodies are generating in the subconscious. But they don't really get a proper
680
00:51:07,480 --> 00:51:12,360
development or they don't really get to somewhere. They're just like floating around and then
681
00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:17,000
suddenly they finished and a new one comes. So that was the idea of Genesis. That's why it's such a
682
00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:25,240
crazy piece. So you briefly mentioned to me, Astat, so there's a series of pieces. So I think I saw
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00:51:25,240 --> 00:51:31,880
another piece, but the same design album cover. So Genesis, and what's the second piece that you just,
684
00:51:32,600 --> 00:51:41,160
what's the name of that piece? The second piece is called Alone. And it was released last Friday.
685
00:51:41,160 --> 00:51:48,120
So you can listen to it on Spotify, iTunes, everywhere. And then you are slowly producing
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00:51:48,120 --> 00:51:56,200
each one of these until May. Yeah, so the album is fully produced, but I'm releasing
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00:51:57,160 --> 00:52:02,200
a single, one single each month, not the whole album. So I'm going to release four singles.
688
00:52:02,200 --> 00:52:06,440
And after the fourth single, then I will release the full album. It will come out in May.
689
00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:14,200
Okay. Listeners and viewers, be sure to check out his Genesis and Alone. They are out right now on
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00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:23,080
Spotify or also Apple iTunes. Yeah, iTunes, Google Music. These are all of the training platforms.
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00:52:23,720 --> 00:52:30,360
This is our tradition and we're honored to have so many amazing artists come to our show. So any
692
00:52:30,360 --> 00:52:38,280
last word of advice for young musicians and young piano music learners? Well, there's so many different
693
00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:44,680
valuable advices that I could say. And each case is, each individual case is special.
694
00:52:46,200 --> 00:52:57,080
But I believe that to be a musician or to be, to have any profession, you need to have such deep
695
00:52:57,080 --> 00:53:03,720
love for what you do. It might be a bit difficult or it might not necessarily be the thing for you,
696
00:53:03,720 --> 00:53:10,760
but that's probably one of the biggest pieces of advice I would say.
697
00:53:10,760 --> 00:53:16,120
It's so beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing that. Yeah. Our audience will benefit from all
698
00:53:16,120 --> 00:53:21,240
these very much, you know, and you're really making yourself as this 21st century musician
699
00:53:21,880 --> 00:53:27,240
through all different media, you know, social media and your different way of presenting
700
00:53:27,240 --> 00:53:32,200
yourself and the music that you're playing and different instruments. That is really cool. So
701
00:53:32,200 --> 00:53:39,560
thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. A big pleasure. Now we are going into fun segment of
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00:53:39,560 --> 00:53:46,920
this show. So we're going to end on the positive note, very much pun intended here. So let's start.
703
00:53:47,480 --> 00:53:55,080
Claudio, we will ask fun questions and we would like for you to answer them with the shortest
704
00:53:55,080 --> 00:54:02,680
answers possible for each question. I'll try my best. Okay. Nothing to be scared of. Okay.
705
00:54:02,680 --> 00:54:11,480
What is your comfort food? Hamburgers. Ooh, American. Cats or dogs? Dogs.
706
00:54:12,680 --> 00:54:21,880
What is your word or words to live by? Passion and purpose. Passion and purpose. Amazing. Excellent.
707
00:54:21,880 --> 00:54:30,360
What is the most important quality you look for in other people? Honesty. What is the worst quality
708
00:54:30,360 --> 00:54:38,600
in people you want to stay away from? Falsehood. Name three people who inspire you, living or dead?
709
00:54:39,160 --> 00:54:46,920
Arthur Rubinstein, Astor Piazzolla, Bill Evans. Bill Evans. Great. Yeah. Great artist.
710
00:54:46,920 --> 00:54:54,680
Oh, yes. All right. So name one piece in your current playlist. Genesis.
711
00:54:56,040 --> 00:55:05,080
Yeah. Yes. And then it's in our playlist as well. So check it out. Excellent choice. Our story is
712
00:55:05,080 --> 00:55:11,560
this week. So tune in and one book title in your library. Oh, how do you say this in English?
713
00:55:11,560 --> 00:55:20,840
You can say it in Spanish. El lobo estepario, which is the wolf, something like the wolf from
714
00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:27,560
Hermann Hesse. Interesting. It's a classic. I just read it. I finished it last week for the second
715
00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:33,560
time. So that's why it's fresh in my mind. Okay. Do they have an English version? For sure. Yeah,
716
00:55:33,560 --> 00:55:42,040
for sure. But I just don't know the English title, but it's one of his top works. So something to do
717
00:55:42,040 --> 00:55:49,880
with the wolf. Something to do with the wolf. You get only one song or piece to listen to for the
718
00:55:49,880 --> 00:55:59,800
rest of your life. What is it? Well, that's very easy. That's the Brunch Wreck in. Yes. Actually,
719
00:55:59,800 --> 00:56:05,720
previous guest said the same thing. Yes. Oh, really? You know, I've thought about that question many
720
00:56:05,720 --> 00:56:12,360
times in my life. And actually it is one of my top pieces, but it's not necessarily my top piece.
721
00:56:12,360 --> 00:56:20,520
But the reason why I would choose it is because it's so long that I can't discover more things.
722
00:56:20,520 --> 00:56:25,560
And it also has so much orchestration because otherwise I could also choose a very short piece
723
00:56:25,560 --> 00:56:33,000
like a Brunch Intermezzo. Brunch is my favorite composer, by the way. But it's so short that
724
00:56:33,000 --> 00:56:38,760
then three minutes I would have to listen over and over again. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Absolutely.
725
00:56:38,760 --> 00:56:46,520
So it's kind of a logical based answer. All right. Well, last question, last not least, music is blank.
726
00:56:46,520 --> 00:56:54,120
Fill in the blank. Life. Music is life. Wonderful. Beautiful. Ding ding ding ding ding. You win.
727
00:56:54,120 --> 00:57:02,200
You won. Yay. Thank you so much. That was really fun. Yeah, it was nice. Yeah. Thank you so much.
728
00:57:02,200 --> 00:57:10,120
I was surprised I could answer so briefly. Oh, really good. You're very, very brilliant.
729
00:57:10,680 --> 00:57:16,680
And then thank you so much for this wonderful conversation. Very inspiring. Yeah, I think so.
730
00:57:16,680 --> 00:57:23,960
I'm sure it was the same for our audience as well. So sadly, this concludes this episode of the Piano
731
00:57:23,960 --> 00:57:29,880
Parade. And thank you, Claudio, for joining us today and sharing your wonderful stories, insights
732
00:57:29,880 --> 00:57:37,560
and expertise. And you can find more information about him on his website at ClaudioConstantini.com.
733
00:57:37,560 --> 00:57:46,440
And I want to encourage you, audience, to listen to his latest song, a piece alone and also Genesis
734
00:57:46,440 --> 00:57:54,520
and more, so much more. So all the links are listed in the description. Thank you so much.
735
00:57:54,520 --> 00:57:59,640
Thank you so much. Yes. And the fans for tuning in today. If you enjoyed today's episode, please
736
00:57:59,640 --> 00:58:06,680
read and review on whatever podcasting platform you use. If you're watching us on YouTube,
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00:58:06,680 --> 00:58:13,000
remember to hit the thumbs up button and be sure to subscribe to our channel. You can also find us
738
00:58:13,000 --> 00:58:19,640
on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. The links are in the description below. If you're
739
00:58:19,640 --> 00:58:26,680
interested to be the guest or want to recommend someone to be on our show, or you'd like to sponsor
740
00:58:26,680 --> 00:58:34,200
or collaborate with us, shoot us an email at the pianopodnyc.gmail.com or send us a direct message
741
00:58:34,200 --> 00:58:41,320
via social media. We'll see you for the next episode of the Piano Parade. Bye everyone. And
742
00:58:41,320 --> 00:58:48,360
thank you, Claudio. Thank you so much. Thank you. It's very fun. Big pleasure. Gracias. Thank you. Gracias.
743
00:58:48,360 --> 00:59:15,400
Gracias.