Culture

In the two days since I last posted to this blog, I have been feeling rather cultured. It's a feeling I rather like, because it's something that people think sending their children to Public School will make them. Well ha. Ha to all the snobs out there, with that pale skin, stinky perfume and constant "this person has just stepped out of a skip filled with rodents and excrement" expression etched across their comfortable, rounded faces. Ha to all the kids who have quite obviously never had to do anything for themselves except complain about the quality of the restaurant they've been dining in. Ha to the kids who have grown up in houses with more than two bedrooms, slept in rooms bigger than the instrument store cupboard at school. Because us state schoolers can be just as cultured as them - if not more so.

Yesterday I went to a fabulous piano concert, on the request (perversely) of my violin teacher. The concert was given by one Masa Tayama, who is the most awesome (in the true sense of the word) and inspiring pianist I have seen live. He opened with Mozart's 12 Variations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It still amazes me what a sense of humour Mozart appears to have had when you consider his somewhat tragic life. I must watch Amadeus again at some point. It's a really exciting film about Mozart, and is all about how Salieri may or may not have poisoned him... It also has quite a lot in it about his Requiem, which particularly interested me last time, before I sang it with Swavesey Community Choir last summer.

Also in the concert were pieces by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Gershwin. The Chopin pieces were heart-achingly beautiful (typical of Chopin), the Rachmaninoff was completely mad and incredibly exciting (ditto), and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue really shows of the piano in everything it does. And what a piano. A 9 foot Bösendorfer!!! Wowee! And I had a look at it properly at the end when we were getting the CD signed by Masa Tayama. The great thing about it was that it was shiny enough to give a clear reflection of Tayama's hands as he was playing, so I could see exactly what he was doing (astounding control and touch noted particularly).

And then today, I went with my parents to see Frost/Nixon at the cinema. It was a wonderful film, and I very strongly think that Frank Langella's performance as Richard Nixon deserves the Oscar it's been nominated for. But it made me feel very cultured going into Huntingdon Cineworld, standing around loads of chavs/yobs/sweaty people, then going into the most sophisticated film in the whole place. I felt suddenly extremely grateful that I've been brought up properly, that I've been lucky enough to go to the best school in the region, that I've got friends who are interested in more than the clothes I wear.

So, I'm feeling good. Will post again soon. x