Top 5 worst music choices from Skate America

[4everchan]

@Seven Sisters
Fair enough...., If that's your interpretation, how do you explain the piano concerto and then the trip hop... To me, if you are going to do a program with a tribute to lost lives during the pandemic, you won't end up in a trip hop version nor start with a piano intro that is not related. So I can accept your interpretation but it still fails to make sense to my brain.

There is a lot more music that would have worked really well for this.

The In Paradisium verse is much more positive.
"May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs receive you at your arrival and lead you to the holy city Jerusalem. May choirs of angels receive you and with Lazarus, once (a) poor (man), may you have eternal rest."

for instance : In paradisium by Fauré https://youtu.be/6-i1ESIRKdA



Or the very popular text from Agnus dei
" Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace. "
Here, there are so many great examples... even one from Mozart Requiem... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZpFa7iDwBI

but i do find Mozart's requiem much darker than many others, except perhaps Verdi's.


So, I would suggest here Barber's Agnus Dei. https://youtu.be/fRL447oDId4

There is even a great Agnus Dei in Mozart's Coronation Mass (see what I am hinting at!!!!!) but it may be less fun for a figure skating program.

So my views on this remain unchanged.

 

[treblemakerem]

There was a lot of questionable choices for sure. But every time I see Daniel Grassl's FS I think of this and can no longer take him seriously.

https://youtu.be/KhpxFZvyI9U

 

[Mauvedreamer]

Hubbell/Donohue's Free music -- as I commented in the FD thread, I just wanted it to stop, and it even brought my husband out of his office down the hall to the living room to find out what "horrible music" I was listening to.

Agree terrible, ah ah constantly.. I had to mute it ! Defeats the whole point!!, didn't care for the Janet Jackson malarkey either!!

 

[apgold]

Oy, the Canadanes' George Michael program was as hideous as her fuschia dress.

I love GM but those music cuts were terrible, almost as bad as Uncle Mick's Bryan Adams program. I'm all for 80s nostalgia but not this.

 

[CoyoteChris]

1) Brezina's FS. So many songs it sounds like someone is switching the radio channels fast
2) Amber's EX. To borrow someone else's line "This isn't a book report, it's a skating program." Talking about slashing one's wrists? Nice.
3) The Nessun Dorma soprano.
4) Kaori's FS. Go back to The Piano.

Sadly, I agree with three out of your four....Sorry Amber and Kaori. I like Nessun Dorma cause Sarah Brightman also sings it.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

OMG, Shoma's Bolero. Whyyyy? His costume looks so nice. I wish he would dump that music. Stop trying to endlessly reinterpret the repetitive music of Bolero, in whatever version!

 

[viennaskater]

There was a lot of questionable choices for sure. But every time I see Daniel Grassl's FS I think of this and can no longer take him seriously.

https://youtu.be/KhpxFZvyI9U

Good one! I must watch that film again!

 

[labgoat]

@Seven Sisters
Fair enough...., If that's your interpretation, how do you explain the piano concerto and then the trip hop... To me, if you are going to do a program with a tribute to lost lives during the pandemic, you won't end up in a trip hop version nor start with a piano intro that is not related. So I can accept your interpretation but it still fails to make sense to my brain.

There is a lot more music that would have worked really well for this.

The In Paradisium verse is much more positive.
"May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs receive you at your arrival and lead you to the holy city Jerusalem. May choirs of angels receive you and with Lazarus, once (a) poor (man), may you have eternal rest."

for instance : In paradisium by Fauré https://youtu.be/6-i1ESIRKdA



Or the very popular text from Agnus dei
" Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace. "
Here, there are so many great examples... even one from Mozart Requiem... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZpFa7iDwBI

but i do find Mozart's requiem much darker than many others, except perhaps Verdi's.


So, I would suggest here Barber's Agnus Dei. https://youtu.be/fRL447oDId4

There is even a great Agnus Dei in Mozart's Coronation Mass (see what I am hinting at!!!!!) but it may be less fun for a figure skating program.

So my views on this remain unchanged.

I am not a student of music, but here is my impression of what I saw from Nathan. The first piano piece is calm and measured with a sense of foreboding representing life before the pandemic. A skater doing a methodical run thru of programs preparing for Montreal Worlds. As the news of the mysterious flu breaks, the music gets more ominous and eventually explodes into a moaning hip-hop piece representing the pandemic as a monster gobbling up souls eventually residing into final portion of the requiem piece.

Part of the problem with the first part is that we can't go back to the way things were before no matter how hard we try. I think Nathan's inconsistency in this part may reflect this in some way. One can only go forward. The fact that we are not fully out of the pandemic yet is also reflected in the abrupt ending. I would like to see the piece reworked to reflect a more optimistic end where we musically reach an end to the crisis and move towards a new future after remembering the fallen.

Maybe This is what I see because I have spent so much time (and still am) caring for so many patients and watching so many suffer so greatly. Many of us in the medical field are still processing the extreme suffering and frighteningly quick abrupt end of life for young and old. I know I am damaged and emotionally more fragile, but am slowly beginning to adapt and recover. Maybe I am projecting my experience onto this program, but it does seem to echo what so many of us discuss privately.

 

[4everchan]

I am not a student of music, but here is my impression of what I saw from Nathan. The first piano piece is calm and measured with a sense of foreboding representing life before the pandemic. A skater doing a methodical run thru of programs preparing for Montreal Worlds. As the news of the mysterious flu breaks, the music gets more ominous and eventually explodes into a moaning hip-hop piece representing the pandemic as a monster gobbling up souls eventually residing into final portion of the requiem piece.

Part of the problem with the first part is that we can't go back to the way things were before no matter how hard we try. I think Nathan's inconsistency in this part may reflect this in some way. One can only go forward. The fact that we are not fully out of the pandemic yet is also reflected in the abrupt ending. I would like to see the piece reworked to reflect a more optimistic end where we musically reach an end to the crisis and move towards a new future after remembering the fallen.

Maybe This is what I see because I have spent so much time (and still am) caring for so many patients and watching so many suffer so greatly. Many of us in the medical field are still processing the extreme suffering and frighteningly quick abrupt end of life for young and old. I know I am damaged and emotionally more fragile, but am slowly beginning to adapt and recover. Maybe I am projecting my experience onto this program, but it does seem to echo what so many of us discuss privately.

i think it's fair to project your own experience into this... in my field, music, we are exhausted for other reasons... and the last thing we want to discuss at this point, is the pandemic....

my reaction to the music is definitely projecting my own musical knowledge and experience... when we make artistic choices, for instance, let's say we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of an ensemble or a musical series etc, requiems would not be chosen. Death, the pandemic, dark thoughts, final silence, last breath, it's not necessarily something I personally would recommend any skater for an olympic program. I do not know Nathan Chen obviously. Perhaps things like these do not affect him. They affect me, and they receive a lukewarm reception, by musicians and non-musicians. For me, the context of a musical piece is something very important. For some, the tune or the sounds are more important...

I gave this example before : I really was upset by Patrick's Mack the Knife... he chose it because it announces a "comeback" and has a fun tune.. at least in the version he chose... not sure if he had heard the original piece, and read the lyrics, that he would have chosen it ...

Mack The Knife (original)

Here's the original song 'Die Moritat von Mackie Messer' from the 'Threepenny opera' sung by Bertolt Brecht. I hope you enjoy the original version!I do not o...

youtu.be

Versus Patrick's

2016 Worlds Men SP Patrick Chan Mack the Knife

youtu.be

however, for someone who knows music, the piece is something else... it's not a jolly tune...

In Nathan's program, the concerto is played very fast and the lacrimosa as well... they certainly chose the faster versions as well... probably because for figure skating, it was more appropriate and more fluid. The cuts do no work out very well. But again, this is what I hear... and I respect that not everyone else perceive it the way I do.

 

[beachmouse]

I like a good Queen medley as much as the next person but an puzzled why you'd include the rather polarizing 'Fat Bottomed Girls' in it even if it's a fun piece.

 

[viennaskater]

I like a good Queen medley as much as the next person but an puzzled why you'd include the rather polarizing 'Fat Bottomed Girls' in it even if it's a fun piece.

It's only a song! I find it highly amusing that you can be offended by it.

 

[Skate88]

It seems like there are some music choices this season that range from puzzling to downright awful. There were certainly a few here this weekend. What were your least favourites?

Mine are, in particular order:
1. Miura/Kihara's weird LP music. Why, just why?
2. Chock/Bates FD music
3. Tarasova/Morozov LP music. (this does less than nothing for them)
4. Vincent Zhou SP. Ban Josh Groban. Awful Starry, Starry Night cover.
5. Hubbell/Donohue's RD Janet Jackson.

I was disappointed and shocked at the enormous number of “war horses” and wonder why on earth these top level skaters lack so much in imagination in regards to musical choices. I mean do they really want to skate to Carmen for the thousandth time? I miss the days of Lyra Angelica and unknown Rachmaninoff and imaginative unusual choices. It would be a shock if someone actually had some imagination at this point. Some lady skated to Bach awhile back and how refreshing that was!! How about some lesser done Chopin or Ravel???

 

[viennaskater]

I was disappointed and shocked at the enormous number of “war horses” and wonder why on earth these top level skaters lack so much in imagination in regards to musical choices. I mean do they really want to skate to Carmen for the thousandth time? I miss the days of Lyra Angelica and unknown Rachmaninoff and imaginative unusual choices. It would be a shock if someone actually had some imagination at this point. Some lady skated to Bach awhile back and how refreshing that was!! How about some lesser done Chopin or Ravel???

Actually, who DID skate to Carmen? I can't recall anyone so far this season. I certainly will be happy if I never hear it again used for skating.

Quite right about Chopin and Ravel (not Bolero, though!). There are many beautiful pieces of theirs which could be used.

 

[viennaskater]

First, the “double dippers” who have not one but two bad selections, Kaori Sakamoto and, Miura/Kihara (Hallelujah I enjoy in real life, but I hate it for skating; that “Woman” dirge is just plain awful)

I actually really like that - I loved it when Castelli/Tran skated their LP to it a few years ago. Dunno why but it works for me.

 

[lariko]

I was game for pretty much everything mentioned by other folks here, but what I didn’t like where

Miahara’s FS,
Chock/Bates FS
Tarasova/Morozov’s FS

 

[el henry]

It's only a song! I find it highly amusing that you can be offended by it.

I find it rather amusing that you used the word “offended”

I am far from “offended”, but “Fat Bottomed Girls“ is a very odd choice for a skating program, and I think @beachmouse makes a good point. So many Queen songs out there, it’s a puzzlement.

 

[anonymoose_au]

When I originally posted I hadn't caught up on all the free dances, but since I have special mention for the Dandians and Madi and Zach. Dear me, where did they dig those songs up? Because they're shockers!

 

[viennaskater]

When I originally posted I hadn't caught up on all the free dances, but since I have special mention for the Dandians and Madi and Zach. Dear me, where did they dig those songs up? Because they're shockers!

Sorry, I'm stupid, who are the Dandians??

 

[anonymoose_au]

Sorry, I'm stupid, who are the Dandians??

Ha ha I can't actually remember both their names, lemme just jog my memory.

Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorenson (I could only remember his name at first ) - they did skate for Denmark but now they represent Canada so they're nicknamed the Dandians.

Anywho, great RD music, terrible FD music!

 

[viennaskater]

Ha ha I can't actually remember both their names, lemme just jog my memory.

Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorenson (I could only remember his name at first ) - they did skate for Denmark but now they represent Canada so they're nicknamed the Dandians.

Anywho, great RD music, terrible FD music!

Got it. I agree and it's a pity because I used to like their programmes going back a few seasons.