Music for Programs 2008-2009 season

swandie wrote:

Dai saw a program he had done for another skater (I want to say Yukari but I don't think it was).

As I know Miyamoto made some programmes for Shizuka Arakawa for her shows.

swandie wrote:

I can't picture Dai skating to this particular aria for some reason. Maybe if he did something that was sung by Pinkerton (the American sailor Madame Butterfly was pining after) I could see it. Upon seeing Dai's current hair, I thought he could skate to rock music (not necessarily like Brian Joubert's Apocalyptica Plays Metallica).

I didn't mean that Dai should skate to this one aria because actually it imposible: skaters always use several different fragments for one programme. But it was just my thought.

Rock music... May be

Hi again!
Thank you all for the information about Bjork!

How about Philip Glass as a music choice? I really like a lot of his work and wish more people would skate to his music...on the other hand the few skating programmes I have seen skated to his pieces have been really dull, uninspired and unable to give structure to its wave-like qualities! So I take that back, I don't want more skaters butchering the music!

But Daisuke could really do it justice I think. He could skate to the "Hours"
soundtrack or to the IMO brilliant "Dracula" adaptation Mr. Glass did. My dream has always been a FS or FD with very creepy atmosphere to a selection of these pieces!

Greetings,
Katharina

P.S.: Hi Victoria! It would be really boring if people agreed on everything, wouldn't it? In my opinion all the "major" choreographers like Lori Nichol, David Wilson, Nikolai Morozov and also dance choreographers like Shpilband/Zueva often overuse music, which perhaps comes with the territory of choreographing for so many skaters a season
I just tend to have more sympathy for Wilson and Morozov because at their best Wilson is intricate and subtle and Morozov dynamic and somewhat agressive, while Nichol just strikes me as overly cutesy and therefore annoying...so once again with the personal preferences

As for Lambiel, I really admire his many brilliant qualities but I never really warmed up to his style of presentation so the original music doesn't help him much with me Besides didn't he skate to Vivaldi's Four Seasons in 2006? How much more generic in you music choices can you get?

katha wrote:

Besides didn't he skate to Vivaldi's Four Seasons in 2006? How much more generic in you music choices can you get?

Oh yes, that famous story about lonely zebra suffering from the winter’s freeze! That’s really one of the examples of overused music from Lambiel. By the way don’t you know that he is one of favourite skaters (from currently competitive skaters) of Daisuke?

katha wrote:

I just tend to have more sympathy for Wilson and Morozov because at their best Wilson is intricate and subtle and Morozov dynamic and somewhat agressive

I don’t know much about David Wilson but I really like Nobunari Oda’s “Figaro” which he made, it’s one of my favourite programmes ever. Which others programmes he have choreographed?

And about Morozov… I was really his big fan before because he made great Olympic programmes for Alexei Yagudin in 2002 and Sasha Cohen in 2006, my former favourite skaters. But now I am… maybe a little tired from his style. He choreographs programmes for so many skaters, he works as a coaches for many skaters which is even more difficult and he began to repeat himself.

As for Daisuke I’m sure that Nikolai trying to do his best for Takahashi because Dai-chan is his favourite student (even in that case it’s hard for him create innovative program like “Swan Lake” all the time). But when I look to programmes which Nikolai made for his others students like Miki Ando in my opinion her SP last year and SP this year are almost identical.

Of course it’s not only Morozov’s but all choreographers’ who have too many students main problem. I wish there were more young talented choreographers in figure skating because I don’t like situation when five persons made programmes for the whole world.

I guess I’m talking too much

Salamandra wrote:

I wish there were more young talented choreographers in figure skating because I don’t like situation when five persons made programmes for the whole world.

I wish for the same.

Hi everyone! I really enjoyed reading a very hot discussion here and I'm very happy to find the fellows who dream about Dai-chan's programs just same as me.

Regarding Nikolai, Dai-chan and Nikolai is a very good team so I just hope Nikolai will be able to make more time for Dai-chan to complete new programs earlier this summer.

swandie wrote:

I thought he could skate to rock music (not necessarily like Brian Joubert's Apocalyptica Plays Metallica).

Hahaha. I'm a huge rock music fan but please don't Metallica! And also I'm afraid rock music doesn't fit figure skating well.... Am I bit conservative?? Maybe techno fits better.


I've made up my opinion!! I will say I want to see Dai-chan in elegant, noble and soft style which we missed last season and hot( or sultry ) and dramatic Latin style.


For a elegant, noble and soft program.

"Clair de Lune" Debussy (This is very nice, played by violin.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKd0VII-l3A

As I'm fond of rock music, unfortunately I don't know much about classic or contemporary music. Even though, actually I know more than this very famous piece of music... But everytime I hear this I realize how beautiful the melody is. It might be difficult for figure skate but I always dream of someone skating beautifully to this music.


For a sultry Latin program... (again I don't know well Latin music... )

"Libertango" Piazzolla (Is this one of overused music?? )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj6rCbUcnxc

Or "Ritual Fire Dance" De Falla (I like it and it has Latin taste.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj6_5qWZCDY


What do you think of them???


Oh! Sorry for my looooong post!!!

Hi all!
Oh my, I'm sorry if I opened a can of worms here...
Victoria, David Wilson also choreographs for Jeffrey Buttle who has beautiful choreography most of the time IMO...except for 2006 where I really didn't like his programmes...But on the other hand he also did Dubreuil/Lauzon's "At Last" FD which was one of the absolute worst offenders in the "Look how romantic and happy and romantic and in looooove we are!" category, so I guess he's only human as well

As I'm mostly a dance fan, believe me I know that Morozov has a lot to answer for   The seeming hours of my life that were wasted watching Grushina/Goncharov crawl at a snail's pace through that dreadfulPeter Gabriel FD...gah! And this year he recycled that music for a pairs team!
Perhaps he has a bet going how often he can get away with using that music?
You're of course also right about Miki Ando, though I'm probably the only one that loved her LP (yeah, it was Carmen but when skated like at Japanese Nationals it was great IMO) So I guess my point is that as long as Daisuke doesn't turn into a dance pair he should be fine

Yeah I wish there were more choreographers as well, but most of the time when someone unknown does a programme he or she uses the same old stuff all over again and does it badly....with an established
choreographer you at least have the guarantee that it will be competent...
And when they are "on" they can come up with brilliant stuff (yes, even Lori Nichol... )
And I just talk too much, sorry!

Greetings
Katharina

Hi Katha!

Thanks about information about David Wilson? Did he also choreographe Jeffrey's "Ararat"? It's such a wonderful programm!

As for Miki's Carmen I think it wasn't bad programm, at least I like it more than her SP. I wouldn't say that this music was the best choise for her but it was she who choosed it, not Morozov.

Daisuke in ice pair? It would interesting to see it (but not with Nikolai's choreography). It's funny that he is former ice dancer but make better programms for single skaters that ice dancers.

But I think we need in this forum separate topic for Nikolai Morozov because this thread was about music for Daisuke

Hi Victoria!
This has all gone ridiculously off topic, hasn't it? And it's all my fault, sorry!
But to stay off topic : Yes, Wilson did Jeffrey's "Ararat", fantastic, isn't it?
I just think that dance choreography has very specific demands and if you're not doing it exclusively or don't have the time to only concentrate on that, disaster can be the result! He did some really nice stuff in Dance as well, but from what I can remember I never hated a singles program he did while a few of his dance routines definitely qualify! But many of the coaches who only do dance like Linichuk and Shpilband also put out atrocious programs. (I think that "Jesus Christ Superstar" thingy L/A did is a hot favourite for "Worst Figure Skating Routine Ever") So I guess dance choreography is just really hard to do!

But to bring this back on topic:
I think Tango is a fantastic idea! "Adios Nonino" is one of my favourite pieces of music and I don't care that it's overused! I also recently listened to a "Tango Nuevo" (is that what it's called?) arrangement of "Libertango" and think it would suit Daisuke as well! The funky beats and jazzy interludes they insert there seem really made for him!

It's also really frustrating that no one skates to Mozart! His "Rondo alla turca" seems like great music for a fun SP for me!
One of the most wonderful pieces of music IMO is Beethoven's "Tempest" Sonata and I haven't seen anyone skate to that! Yet they all insist on doing "Malaguena" to death!
I normally don't like her but Vanessa Mae has this piece "Bolero for Violin and Orchestra" on one of her CDs and it's very haunting!
That's all the ideas I have for next year's music!

Greetings,
Katharina

P.S.: We could do a thread comparing all the choreographers and their best and worst efforts. That could be fun! I just don't want to be disrespectful since this is a Daisuke Takahashi Forum and we would be way off topic. (Well, even more than we are now... )

Hi miyu!
I suppose "Clair moon" is a great choise of music. I also would like to see Dai-Chan skating in such soft romantic style because I think it suit so well to his character.

As for tango, Piazzola has really many great pieces. I remember when Daisuke told about his practise in dance studio in New-York he said that he would like to try differents styles of dances not only hip-hop and he mentioned tango. So, who knows...

miyu wrote:

swandie wrote:

I thought he could skate to rock music (not necessarily like Brian Joubert's Apocalyptica Plays Metallica).

Hahaha. I'm a huge rock music fan but please don't Metallica! And also I'm afraid rock music doesn't fit figure skating well.... Am I bit conservative?? Maybe techno fits better.

Maybe Dai could skate to music by Bond. They're kind of like Apocalyptica in that they play "current music" with classical instruments. Maybe not Kismet since I will forever associate it with Shen and Zhao.

miyu wrote:

I've made up my opinion!! I will say I want to see Dai-chan in elegant, noble and soft style which we missed last season and hot( or sultry ) and dramatic Latin style.

Sultry Latin...would love to see Dai try that again! He is definitely capable of pulling it off (see his Tango Roxanne short program/exhibition). Libertango might be in the realm of overused but I only know of ice dance teams that have used it. Maybe a Cha Cha or Rhumba. I think he is very likely to try new things especially after the response his short program got this year. I think I'll enjoy whatever Dai and Morozov come up with...as long as it's not Dark Eyes.

Hi all!
There seems to be a consensus regarding the tango!
Other music I thought about:How about something by Yann Thiersen? Not necessarily "Amelie" perhaps, but he composed the score for the German movie "Goodbye Lenin" that is IMO just as beautiful.
Or Rachmaninov? Who says that you always have to go with the usual dramatic suspects "Vocalise" is a soft and contemplative piece. I know that it is Gordeeva/Grinkov's signature piece but perhaps Daisuke could go away from a romantic interpretation and focus more on the meditative/thoughtful aspect of it?

Anyway, just thinking out loud here

Greetings,
Katharina

Hi everyone!!

Salamandra wrote:

I suppose "Clair moon" is a great choise of music. I also would like to see Dai-Chan skating in such soft romantic style because I think it suit so well to his character.

Exactly! That's what I thought. And your choice "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" will suit as well to show such character of Dai-chan!!!

swandie wrote:

I think he is very likely to try new things especially after the response his short program got this year. I think I'll enjoy whatever Dai and Morozov come up with...as long as it's not Dark Eyes.

Yeah, I think so too. People will expect something new from Dai-chan after they saw Hip Hop Swan. And I agree with you we will enjoy whatever they will create but Dark Eyes.

katha wrote:

"Vocalise" is a soft and contemplative piece. I know that it is Gordeeva/Grinkov's signature piece but perhaps Daisuke could go away from a romantic interpretation and focus more on the meditative/thoughtful aspect of it?

I love "Vocalise" too!! I love to see Dai-chan skating with anguished face(?) to this piece!! And I guess Nikolai likes Rachmaninov more than Debussy.....


** I should have had poted these link for "Ritual Fire Dance". Just for someone who is interested in this piece of music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUir35l5y8U
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftd8tIdiYq4&feature=related

miyu wrote:

Exactly! That's what I thought. And your choice "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" will suit as well to show such character of Dai-chan!!!

Hi miyu!
I just thought that if Dai-chan has chosed music himself for EX programm which he choreographed that he like such kind of soft and melodic music.

I just rewatched this wonderful programm yesterday and I notice that Dai's "Nocturne" and Lambiel's EX "Romeo" in fact similar a little. These two programmes are in same style - simple and elegant, even some poses are alike. Or may I have a such impression because Daisuke and Stephane the same clothes?

As for Rachmaninov I think Daisuke's FS in 2005-2006 was really good despite of overused music. It's depends on which piece to take. There are some Rachmaninov's compositions which are difficult for interpretation like the one from Sarah Hughes FS in 2002. I hope Nikolai will not take something like that.

Hi everyone!

***日本のDTFFメンバーの皆さん、以下には男子フギュアスケートメモリアルブックの引用があります。これから本を読まれる方は御注意下さい。***

In Dai-chan's interview of the book "Men's Figure Skate 2007-2008 Memorial Book (Kadokawa shoten)", he said that he wants to skate to pieces of music which he really likes next season. He didn't refer to any exact names of music by himself but when Yukari recommended him "River Dance" and "Road of the ring", he said that they are nice and he'd like to skate to a kind of folk music.

And I found an impressive comment from Antonio Najarro who had a short interview in that book. Najarro said "Who am I interested in? Well Daisuke Takahashi is a really good skater. I like his programs and I think he is an artist. From my point of view he is a dancer more than a skater. It's same as Stephan. Both of them are fantastic dancers as well as skaters. "


He might have mentioned Dai-chan's name because he was interviewed by Japanese media. Anyway I want to say him "Thank you to say so!" Yes, definitely Dai-chan is a dancer as all of us know!! I'd love to see Dai-chan skating a program choreographed by Najarro someday.

Hi, everyone

I'd like Daisuke to use beautiful classical music, especially piano or violin music next season.

I'm so happy if he use Chopin "Etude, op 10-3". This music is also used for Mao's Ex with vocal.
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=7VGQ8Jkplrw&feature=related

I think he can passionate step by the middle part after 1'28".

Thank you for sharing your opinion with us, delovely!

delovely wrote:

I'd like Daisuke to use beautiful classical music, especially piano or violin music next season.

I totally agree with you. Something classic and elegant like Tchaikovski Violin Concerto or Rachmaninov Piano Concerto.
But I'm afraid Chopin Etude op 10-3 might be bit girlish for Dai-chan though I love the music very much. What do you think??

Hi, miyu!
I love Rachmaninov piano concerto and Thaikovsky violin concerto so much
I watch those programs many many times!!

Quote :

But I'm afraid Chopin Etude op 10-3 might be bit girlish for Dai-chan
though I love the music very much. What do you think??

Umm...I don't know how to say because I'm not good English speaker
But I think Daisuke's skating shows sorrow, strength and the man's maturity.