Music in Free Dances

Hey, do you know any ice dancers who used classical piano works in their free dances? Maybe, like the Chopin Selection of Belbin/Agosto?

Surprisingly this was the only program that I was able to find on youtube, my primary source for figureskating, yet another CHOPIN...

Pernelle Carron and Matthieu Jost (France) - 2008 Europeans FD - Chopin Nocturne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfnphn9BBtk

I didn't know about this team until today... and I am really enjoying their skating. This is the fun part of visiting the goldenskate forum

Their Chopin was an arrangement of Cello+Piano and Jazz.
So far, I prefer their arrangement over Asada and Belbin/Agosto.

This is purely due to the expressive and acoustical reason.
I would like to go further into it when I have time to write.

p.s.
Aha!
I see that they are Dubreuil and Lauzon's protégé!
http://www.goldenskate.com/articles/2007/021008.shtml

In season 1999/2000 a polsih couple Nowak/Kolasinski were dancing their FD for piano music (Chopin's variations). It was a very nice programme, unfortunately I cannot find it on youtube.

Carmen on piano

Bizet's Carmen is a Classic that skaters over do and can't resist coming back to it. I always thought that the piano transcriptions would work well for the complicate details of the ice dance movements and wanted to suggest the piano transcriptions done by Arcadi Volodos.

I was only able to find link to the Horowitz'... Volodos' is a souped up version of Horowitz. It is also better in terms of sound quality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDwAHdOW8eg

Bestemianova and Bukin used Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in 1986:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8FW50kR1iU8

I think this was one year where they clearly "broke" the rules of the music having a clear discernible rhythm.

Female voice + Acoustic guitar

In my view, ice dance is the discipline that skaters can benefit the most by being able to 'hear' their music clearly. For this purpose, I think the combination of female voice and acoustic guitar is great for echo-filled figure skating arena.

The following clip is what I originally had in mind. The ultimate example of the sustained high pitches with the uncluttered rhythmic intricacy from the guitar.

This is the clip of Gordeeva skating to
Villa-Lobos' Bachiana Brazileiras No.5 - Kathleen Battle & Christopher Parkening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqgNSJvMKHU
Battle/Parkening duo also has a breath-taking Ave Maria which is over used.

On the other hand, the enunciation of the text in the female voice can generate rhythmic intricacy through the interaction with the guitar.

Wonderful You- Audra McDonald & Dan Petty
http://youtube.com/watch?v=psu8YSoTS4s

Rapsodie on the theme of Paganini, Op.43 (Sergei Rachmaninov): Part 1

blue dog said:

Bestemianova and Bukin used Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in 1986

Click to expand...

I remember this team for their Borodin FD at the 1988 Olympics... This is how I got to know the opera Prince Igor

To me, their music to the "Paganini Rhapsody" was a perfect example of how to ruin a masterpiece with bad editing. I am not sure how the music affected the program technically...

Thanks for the post though, cause I have been meaning to discuss about this piece.

Sound of Harmonica

dutchherder said:

Virtue and Moir's "Tennessee Waltz"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlWsI7xZWlQ

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This program caught my 'ears' during the harmonica interlude where the skaters did their straight line footworks. It made me realize how well the sound of the harmonica could translate into the arena and work beautifully for figure skaters.

The man who played this harmonica line was Howard Levy.
I have to say my jaw dropped only after five-minutes of youtube research. The man is versatile, virtuosic and has such a gravitating vibrato that left me speechless.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz4cgCOi068

Harmonica is the most recent thing for me and it started from Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on NPR. She had Jean Toots Thielemans in one of her shows in March...
Toots has an old world nostalgic sound that is ever so comforting.

Sophisticated Lady
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOOvJY42k8w&feature=related
God Bless The Child of him with Trijntje Oosterhuis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOJIXy8IW8k&feature=related

Cinderella

I would love to see more Cinderella (Sergei Prokofiev) on ice.
This is one of the examples of how it can be done, and the following is the ballet version.

Jacqueline Petr & Mark Janoschak (Canada) from the 1992 Olympics
http://youtube.com/watch?v=FTIPj8hK9pA

My understanding of Prokofiev deepened through his ballet music, especially Cinderella.
It is witty, charming and absolutely ethereal... There is a lot more subtlety than the clock ticking drama or sweeping love scene.

Alina Cojocaru & Johan Kobborg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=echtb6K4qk0&feature=related
Alina Cojocaru (dancing with the broom)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugn91USQqTQ&feature=related

Chopin - Part 1: My favorite Chopin numbers on ice

All Chopin...

Mao Asada 2006 SP - Nocturne Op.9-2 in Eb
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cVaj2r6Skc
: She can articulate subtle nuance... and be the music...

Alexander Uspenski 2007 EX - Etude Op.10-12 "Revolutionary"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WiBJxd8mE4k
: aristocratic passion... what a class!

Belousova/Protopopov 1985 Pro - Nocturne Op. 27-2 in Db
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y8xNHFXXWJM
: admire their integrity... eloquent skating indeed...

Gordeeva/Grinkov 1988 LP
- Piano Concerto No.2 - 2 mov Larghetto (1:02-2:18)
- Piano Concerto No.1 - 2mov Romance: Largetto (2:59-3:57)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LO895I2ig_Y
: they can tickle me with their skating

Chopin - Part 2: Rubato

This is a clip from The Art of Piano - Great Pianists of 20th Century that was on PBS a few years ago. I remembered the clip of the French pianist Alfred Cortot who demonstrated "Chopin" and poetry on keyboard the best way.

Alfred Cortot - Greatest Interpreter of Chopin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2fRWWW_6MM&feature=related

jyshin said:

... I listened to both Mao & B/A's music from their (Chopin) programs, then I could understand some of the concerns that has been going around regarding their connection to the music. I realized that they both used somewhat synthesized version that was made to keep the flow going. In my opinion, both versions lost quite a bit of poetic quality called 'rubato' which is the essence of Chopin. In Chopin, losing rubato means losing connection to the music... when Chopin sounds mechanical it loses life.
To me, listening to a familiar piece of music as suppose to being able to drawn into the music are vastly different experiences. If you have a chance to listen to one good recording of the Fantasie-Impromptu, i.e. Artur Rubinstein, you will notice the difference immediately. You will also begin to question if anyone can possibly skate to such rubato-filled performance without disrupting the flow... and yes I do, too, worry about it.

Click to expand...

Rapsodie on the theme of Paganini, Op.43 (Sergei Rachmaninov): Part 2

Paganini Rhapsody is consisted of a theme and 24 variations. Its title suggests a Faustian underpinning in return for virtuosity and love.
There are two important musical elements: Paganini theme and dies irae .
The theme and variations are divided into five sections

(Part one) The Paganini theme and its straightforward variations until Var.5

(Part two) Introduction of dies irae
Var.6: first glimpse of rhapsodic character
Var.7: dies irae
Var.8: back to Paganini pick up pace, strong rhythmic pulse in 2
Var.9: continued with the same rhythmic pulse in 2
Var.10: dies irae, rhapsodic

- silence, brief pause –

(Part three) Appearance of two distinct characters: the woman and the virtuoso
Var.11 appearance of a woman
Var.12 minuet - in 3
Var.13 forceful, straight – in 3
Var.14 trumbone-horn intro - in 3
Var.15 brilliant piano solo – fluid sixteenth notes – orchestra tacet

(Part Four) Romantic highlight
Var.16-17 transition to Var.18
Var.18 LOVE theme

(Part Five) Finale with bravura!
Var.19-21 back to Paganini character
Var.22 march
Var.23 reinstatement of the Paganini theme
Var.24 reinstatement of dies irae

Rapsodie on the theme of Paganini, Op.43 (Sergei Rachmaninov): Part 3

Bestemianova & Bukin 1986 FD
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8FW50kR1iU8
1> Paganini theme ; 0:25... silence! – abrupt transition
2-i> Var.12 (0:32) minuet in 3
2-ii> Var.8 (1:40) in 2
3> Love theme: Var.18 (2:16) – abrupt transition !
4> (obscure) Mix of Var.23-24 (3:41)

Angela Nikodinov 1999 Worlds LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqZaKuljILY&feature=related
1> Var.11 - appearance of a woman
2> Var.8 (1:09) continuing to Var 9 (1:39), used the last measure of Var 10 that ends with an "a" played by a triangle.
3> Love theme: Var.18 (1:59)
4> Paganini theme: Var.23 (3:20) + (very brief) dies irae: Var.24 (4:01)

B/B was the juxtaposition of all five parts of the Rhapsody, as supposed to AN who chose to concentrate on Var.18, the love theme. I thought AN’s idea of using Var.11 to open the program was brilliant. In fact, the original music stops for two full+ measures to wait for the lady in mystery to appear for the first time. B/B just started with the Paganini theme.

Interestingly, both programs used Var.8 for the fast technical sections in the front. B/B chose the energetic Var.8 (in 2) as the counter partner to the preceding Var.12 (sad minuet in 3). AN began with Var.8 and kept the steady pulse by letting the music flow in to the next variation.

Var.18 was used for slow/expressive middle section in both programs, especially, AN used 90% of the original music. However, both of them had problems building a natural transition in to and out of the love theme. These transitions might be more important than the love theme itself, and I think it is important to keep the original four measures before Var.18, and the string pizzicatos after.

The biggest challenge for both programs was to build a strong climax towards the end after Var.18. Since it is hard to snap out of the overwhelming emotion of the love theme, it is crucial not to rush to the finish line. In the original Rhapsody, Rachmaninov wrote three variations just to cool down and wrote three additional variations to build up the finale. I thought that Var.22 (military march) might be able to cool down and build up the momentum instead of hopping directly to the last variation.

Most of all, the brilliance of this work lies in the sudden drop of the dynamics at the very last two measures. After the restless bravura... it happens... then, everything is over... the audience is left in awe... 'silence'... is THE magical element that has been kept in secret until the end...!

Whoever understands this silence should have confidence in this music and do something about it... and I hope my little study provides some sort of ground work for the one who is interested in creating a profoundly characteristic number on the ice...

jyshin said:

Bizet's Carmen is a Classic that skaters over do and can't resist coming back to it. I always thought that the piano transcriptions would work well for the complicate details of the ice dancing movements and wanted to suggest the piano transcriptions done by Arcadi Volodos.

I was only able to find link to the Horowitz'... Volodos' is a souped up version of Horowitz. It is also better in terms of sound quality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDwAHdOW8eg

Click to expand...

Wow I've never heard of piano transcription of Carmen. I don't have the access to YOUTUBE right now but would look forward to hearing it from your link! thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by jyshin
... I listened to both Mao & B/A's music from their (Chopin) programs, then I could understand some of the concerns that has been going around regarding their connection to the music. I realized that they both used somewhat synthesized version that was made to keep the flow going. In my opinion, both versions lost quite a bit of poetic quality called 'rubato' which is the essence of Chopin. In Chopin, losing rubato means losing connection to the music... when Chopin sounds mechanical it loses life.
To me, listening to a familiar piece of music as suppose to being able to drawn into the music are vastly different experiences. If you have a chance to listen to one good recording of the Fantasie-Impromptu, i.e. Artur Rubinstein, you will notice the difference immediately. You will also begin to question if anyone can possibly skate to such rubato-filled performance without disrupting the flow... and yes I do, too, worry about it.

Click to expand...

I agree that losing rubato is like losing life. And it's difficult to skate to. One of the practice music at my ballet studio is a Chopin Norcturne and I need to try not to lose the count when I dance to it. You have to breathe in and out in the same way the pianist does. You need to listen to it many times to get used to where the rubato comes in.

Rubato...

Bennett said:

and I need to try not to lose the count when I dance to it. You have to breathe in and out in the same way the pianist does. You need to listen to it many times to get used to where the rubato comes in.

Click to expand...

I loved how you said about rubato... you have to COUNT!

From a slightly different angle...
I thought the beginning of Toots Thielemans clip showed how he could mess 'around' with the beat

jyshin said:

Sophisticated Lady
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOOvJY42k8w&feature=related

Click to expand...

To me... that's great rubato!

p.s.
In figure skating... I think Kurt Browing and Ilia Kulik are the only ones who can skate to that kind of improv... someone else? PLEASE

East meets West - Part 1: Ararat & Constantinople

When Jeffrey Buttle skated to the music of Ararat, I found myself immediately connected to the music... and left wondering why...
I was particularly drawn into the later part of his program where he danced to the duduk (Armenian flute) melody, which reminded me the sound of the TaePyungSo (Korean trumpet)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUHI9ggpZQc

In 2004, I was able to attend the premiere of the full multi-media production of Constantinople at the Banff Summer Arts Festival. Constantinople being the symbolic place where East meets West, the production featured the Middle Eastern singer and the Western singer on the same staged... it was a captivating moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIji9S2nHus

p.s.
There was also a documentary film by NHK called, The Silk Road from the early 1980s. I would be interested in this soundtrack as well.

Utilizing musical elements: Part 1

Bennett said:

I heard that Morosov times the length of time that the skater needs to execute each element first, and then modifies the music to fit with the elements.

Click to expand...

I was wondering about this...
I found that Takahashi's "Romeo and Juliet" was edited to count the jumps conveniently in some places.

For instance, the opening triple toe loop, he gained momentum through the string tremolo into the ascending line of the trombones. Then the eight-note trombone line prepared him to jump like this: "One-2-3-4 Two-2-3-4 JUMP"!

My little discovery from Takahashi's program brought my attention to, Lambiel's Vivaldi program from 2006 where his choreographic design was a little more sophisticated.

In the opening, his movement pattern leading into the triple axel follows the harmonic progression lead by the basso continuo’s i-V-i.

The flowing violin line gives him eight long beats (= Takahashi) to gain momentum while the rhythmic pattern of the violin slows down to triplets. His jump preparation begins as the violin triplet notes begin to reiterate a single pitch while the harmony intensifies. Lambiel's preparation goes... "One-2-3-4-prep-JUMP-land-release" (each beat has three notes)....The preparation and the completion of the quad is seamlessly fit into the i-V-i progression.

Utilizing musical elements: Part 2

... continuing with Lambiel's Vivaldi LP... about pacing the technical elements within the natural flow of the music.

Mathman said:

I think Lambiel is the master of the first half front-load, second half front-load. He doesn't do a quad in the last minute, but he always does his second quad right at the stroke of the start of the bonus period.

Click to expand...

I have been wondering how he could fit all of these elements and not rush... then I realized in Lambiel’s 2006 program how he avoided the problems that Bennett described in the following quote.

Bennett said:

... some skaters have programs that do not allocate sufficient time to execute spiral steps and spins and fail to get intended levels.

Click to expand...

I noticed that after the 'exposition,' the music completely stopped and basically rebooted. The process was slow so Lambiel was able to take the longest time to prepare for the second quad. After this quad the jumps gradually got easier (triple-triple, triple-double, single triple), and he spent less and less time for preparation which matched the gradual acceleration of the music. Therefore, when he arrived back to the fast section, there weren't any jumps to complete... except for the flying camel that lead in to the straight line footwork that continued to the eight beat coda (i-iv-V-i, i-iv-V-i) where he ended with spins in six(?) different positions. Almost a position per chord change What a way to end!

p.s.
I am sorry that my post is deviating from the Free Dance Music... At this point I feel like this thread is my home ?!?! or whatever...dah..
Anyways, all of what I have written can be translated into any discipline of figure skating... and I still believe that ice dance can benefit the most from musical study!

jyshin said:

When Jeffrey Buttle skated to the music of Ararat, I found myself immediately connected to the music... and left wondering why...
I was particularly drawn into the later part of his program where he danced to the duduk (Armenian flute) melody, which reminded me the sound of the TaePyungSo (Korean trumpet)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUHI9ggpZQc

In 2004, I was able to attend the premiere of the full multi-media production of Constantinople at the Banff Summer Arts Festival. Constantinople being the symbolic place where East meets West, the production featured the Middle Eastern singer and the Western singer on the same staged... it was a captivating moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIji9S2nHus

p.s.
There was also a documentary film by NHK called, The Silk Road from the early 1980s. I would be interested in this soundtrack as well.

Click to expand...

There was something really soulful about that music. Jeff was very good at expressing the depth of it. I loved that. I feel that his previous costume might have matched the program better.

Thank you for sharing the video clips. I liked many of the images. Especially the moving hands and a tree. Very symbolic.

jyshin said:

Bizet's Carmen is a Classic that skaters over do and can't resist coming back to it. I always thought that the piano transcriptions would work well for the complicate details of the ice dance movements and wanted to suggest the piano transcriptions done by Arcadi Volodos.

I was only able to find link to the Horowitz'... Volodos' is a souped up version of Horowitz. It is also better in terms of sound quality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDwAHdOW8eg

Click to expand...

I listened to it and liked it a lot. Perhaps not as sensual as the one with all string instruments, but it's splendid. Male skaters may look nice skating to it. I am amazed what a complete instrument the piano is.