Any suggestions on choreographers/music choices for Daisuke 2012-13 season? | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Any suggestions on choreographers/music choices for Daisuke 2012-13 season?

Joined
Aug 16, 2009
LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

I hunted around on YouTube, and the name was in Spanish, so I almost missed it. It's that Canadian production of The Planets, with both dancers and skaters. The skaters are Brian Orser and the Duchesnays. One of the dancers is Sonia Rodriguez, now Mrs. Browning. Speaking of inventive choreography!

Here's the Jupiter section:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y_o7EJJus8&feature=relmfu

Here's Neptune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT4FBMm2W0Y

Here's Sonia in the Venus section:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL36bMXi7LI&feature=relmfu

Here's Brian as Mercury:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19Z2MqPcB38&feature=relmfu

There are some other sections, of course. You'll find them near the ones I've linked.
 
Last edited:

deedee1

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

I hunted around on YouTube, and the name was in Spanish, so I almost missed it. It's that Canadian production of The Planets, with both dancers and skaters. The skaters are Brian Orser and the Duchesnays. One of the dancers is Sonia Rodriguez, now Mrs. Browning. Speaking of inventive choreography!

Here's the Jupiter section:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y_o7EJJus8&feature=relmfu

Here's Neptune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT4FBMm2W0Y

Here's Sonia in the Venus section:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL36bMXi7LI&feature=relmfu

Here's Brian as Mercury:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19Z2MqPcB38&feature=relmfu

There are some other sections, of course. You'll find them near the ones I've linked.

I LOVE YOU, OLYMPIA! :love:

, though I can not open these vids while at the office right now ;)...am really looking forward to seeing them when come home!
 

OS

Sedated by Modonium
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

I hunted around on YouTube, and the name was in Spanish, so I almost missed it. It's that Canadian production of The Planets, with both dancers and skaters. The skaters are Brian Orser and the Duchesnays. One of the dancers is Sonia Rodriguez, now Mrs. Browning. Speaking of inventive choreography!

Here's the Jupiter section:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y_o7EJJus8&feature=relmfu

Here's Neptune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT4FBMm2W0Y

Here's Sonia in the Venus section:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL36bMXi7LI&feature=relmfu

Here's Brian as Mercury:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19Z2MqPcB38&feature=relmfu

There are some other sections, of course. You'll find them near the ones I've linked.

Wow thanks for finding this. Must check it out! I wish there are more adventurous grand themed projects like this among the elite world class skaters. A little ambition wouldn't hurt :) Think of all the possibilities!!!
 
Last edited:

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Toller Cranston was involved with some great thematic ice extravaganzas like this.

He was Tybalt in a Romeo & Juliet on Ice in 1982
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=032DwlgcNHo

His Dreamweaver special was really wonderful, but I don't see it on youtube just now.

And there is also the version of Carmen on Ice with Katarina Witt, Brian Boitano and Brian Orser! It reminds me that there is a lot of Carmen that is not overused ;)

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFep6bm8JdA

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf8BDja7ryk&feature=relmfu

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGv97batpz4

Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RoMxFsGACM&feature=relmfu

Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRWLWCgvmA0&feature=fvwrel

Part 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX1lhU_X0TY&feature=relmfu

Part 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxxMfqJf61A

Part 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1F_rOTUIK4&feature=relmfu

Part 9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMDPWeQBKBo&feature=relmfu

Part 10 - Credits & Interviews
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9osfabDWgjo&feature=relmfu


and then there was "Six Gestures" with Yoyo Ma & Torvill & Dean (T&D were not in all the clips)

There were 8 separate clips

Here's one:

Bach's Cello Suite No. 6, Prelude
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=383i93LiT-o

Bach's Cello Suite No. 6, Gavotte
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0Ksy_Dn82w

and another
Bach's Cello Suite No. 6, Sarabande
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g-uf81SUko

and another,
Bach's Cello Suite No. 6, Gigue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRS-E5ud2Xg

Bach's Cello Suite No. 6, Courante
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90_J-AXrcl8


I couldn't find the other 3 clips, but it was all gorgeous.
 
Last edited:

redwing

Rinkside
Joined
Apr 20, 2012
I love Dai, the most versatile male skaters around, capable of a great deal of sensitivity, showmanship and class, very rare among the men.

I think it might be refreshing if he do something totally European this year. Something classical vs something bit modern. Something pensive vs something theatrical. Something masculine vs something ephemeral?

"Caruso" by Lucio Dalla, http://youtu.be/Rgr3Oz4znuk (this song is about the pain and longings of a man who is about to die while looking into the eyes of the woman he loves)

Oh you ladies might like this version of Caruso better since it is sung by Julio Iglesias ;) http://youtu.be/s_l2mLvpiJE

Bizet - Carmen, "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" http://youtu.be/axvhEUyVfX0 (only Dai could and Pasquale could pull this off)
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Thanks to everyone for the wonderful things you're linking here! If any skater in the world could pay attention to any one thread on any forum, my first wish would be for Daisuke to find this thread. What a treasure trove of performance and music!


Doris, thanks for linking all the sections of the Romeo and Juliet so we can find them easily! Toller Cranston's Tybalt in that production demonstrates how superior he was as a skater. Sure, the guys and even the ladies do jumps with more rotations these days, but in terms of sheer quality of skating, he stands equal with all of them. Seeing him also points up the fact that Canada has had an unbroken line of world-class athlete/artists as their men's champions: from Toller through Brian Orser, Kurt, Elvis (well, an athlete, but with his own performing persona), Emanuel Sandhu, Jeffrey Buttle, and now Patrick Chan. Except for Sandhu, who was the heartbreak kid in terms of competition breakdowns (I include him because of his amazing technique and artistry), every one of these men a world champion save for Toller, who was both a world and Olympic medalist.
 
Last edited:

OS

Sedated by Modonium
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
"Caruso" by Lucio Dalla, http://youtu.be/Rgr3Oz4znuk (this song is about the pain and longings of a man who is about to die while looking into the eyes of the woman he loves)

Oh you ladies might like this version of Caruso better since it is sung by Julio Iglesias ;) http://youtu.be/s_l2mLvpiJE

Bizet - Carmen, "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" http://youtu.be/axvhEUyVfX0 (only Dai could and Pasquale could pull this off)


Ahh yes it would very interesting to see which skater actually take advantage of the new relaxed rule to allow vocals in their music next year, it could be quite daring and risky, but if anyone is capable of taking a risk and get rewarded, I can see Daisuke push the way forward.

I Like 'Caruso' alot, a real classic and I have seen both Il Divo and Andrea Bocelli perform this live in their concerts. I'd say I prefer Il Divo version and they are overall more impressive live.

I actually think this music would also suit to Weaver and Poje for ice dance. I got quite weepy by the end of their FD @ WC and got totally spaced out.

I agree about Dai and Pasquale for Carmen, despite there are so many Carmen already, there's still room for one brilliant one. The definitive Carmen for the lady's belong to Katarina Witt from the Olympics, how about for mens?
 
Last edited:

redwing

Rinkside
Joined
Apr 20, 2012
Ahh yes it would very interesting to see which skater actually take advantage of the new relaxed rule to allow vocals in their music next year, it could be quite daring and risky, but if anyone is capable of taking a risk and get rewarded, I can see Daisuke push the way forward.

I Like 'Caruso' alot, a real classic and I have seen both Il Divo and Andrea Bocelli perform this live in their concerts. I'd say I prefer Il Divo version and they are overall more impressive live.

I actually think this music would also suit to Weaver and Poje for ice dance. I got quite weepy by the end of their FD @ WC and got totally spaced out.

I agree about Dai and Pasquale for Carmen, despite there are so many Carmen already, there's still room for one brilliant one. The definitive Carmen for the lady's belong to Katarina Witt from the Olympics, how about for mens?

Yes Katarina was amazing and I don't think any men skated to this particular aria. I don't anyone but Dai could pull it off to be honest. He had huge sucess with La Strada and I know he and Pasquale could work their magic here.

As for Caruso, I agree many great artists gave their interpretations. Those you mention and Lara Fabain rendition is also fantastic. I just have a soft spot for Mireille :)
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Thinking of choreographers: several dance choreographers have attempted to create skating programs, but the one who worked best for me was Lar Lubovitch. He choreographed some material for a live ice show some time ago, and he also made a wonderful program for Paul Wylie to, of all things, Jim Morrison and the Doors. Can't find it on YouTube, alas.
 

skateluvr

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
Olympia, did you see the thread for akiko i started-what could she perform to next year-you know so much classical music and more. I hope to see her as WC gold at 29, tho just my wish (guessing its Liza) Akiko has a music suggestion thread and I hope she reads here.
 

skfan

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 29, 2009
some music i would love to see daisuke skate to.

fried green tomatoes suite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gINPMWVHhpM


this idea was borrowed from an FSU music suggestion thread. i'm indebted to the person who came up with this idea, because it got me to re-watch one of my favorite movies. i am especially interested in seeing what dai could do with the music around

1:15, 9:35, 11:43

i would have liked to link the 'ghost train' piece from this soundtrack, but it appears to have been pulled from youtube.


off topic--i've always wanted mao or caro or akiko to skate to this music, but i love dai enough to share this music with him as well ;D


appalachian spring
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuaAgP1GeSQ

this selfish american wants dai to skate to this music. feels like a long time since someone skated to it. though my memory is a bit vague, i seem to recall a stirring boitano program years ago. around 7:26 the music is sweeping and grand. dai can bring out all the colors and shades in the piece, the more fast paced parts as well as the more majestic parts.

another fave of mine is dvorak's new world symphony. not groundbreaking--i just like to see my favorite skaters skate to music i like.

the very familiar 4th movement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-y5ONP_Vsg

the 2nd movement that was also turned into a song--akin to jupiter being turned into 'i vow to thee...'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYl4Xb4cDQ8

perhaps this movement with its sense of wonderment, exploring new grounds, fits with how dai has been stretching his artistic boundaries of late, taking from ice dance teachers in france, focusing aspects of skating he hadn't favored so much earlier in his career. many thanks, once again, to deedee and others who have been so kind as to translate from other languages for all of us, whose work i've read and appreciated but rarely commented on :)

if the new world symphony is too much a war-horse for some (not for me--i could watch everybody skate to it, just like back in the days of compulsory dances when 'la playa' or 'la cumparsita' played a dozen times...)


i also like the mahler adagietto.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4-LR3KPX50

but perhaps like the barber adagio for strings it is too monotonous for a competition piece that demands tempo changes?



how about some sochi programs using music from a russian composer?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PtIHBCuR-Q
tchaikovsky's none but the lonely

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ebQYH6EpJ8
tchaikovsky's symphony #6


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwT3mGz5MyA&feature=player_detailpage#t=1675s
tchaikovsky symphony #5
especially around 27:09


i admire the restraint, the tempered, reined-in expression in certain portions of dai's short program this season. but to me a skater capable of tremendous emotional projection ought to go for it and skate to a grand piece in a big competition. yes, you need 'light and shade' (thank you john nicks for helping ms. wagner to see the light), and i don't want any skater to go around making O-faces the entire time, but i like it when a skater makes the audience forget they're watching a sporting event with medals on the line, and transport viewers to a different theatre for a moment. that's why i especially like tchaikovsky's symphony #6 for dai.

with a symphony you can always take a bit from the slow section, a bit from the fast section and get all the tempo variation desired, although i admit to being very fussy about how the music is cut. that's one of the reasons i admire the david wilson and hugo schouinard (sp) team--they've cut pieces of music dear to my heart without making me cringe (gershwin's concerto in F for YNK, dvorak cello concerto for caroline zhang last season, etc.)

if dai favors beethoven, my favorite is the pastoral symphony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM8RlCZP0KQ

i'd also be curious to see dai skate to mozart's symphony #41
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prvBEXbnDR0

or

chaconne in D minor by J.S. Bach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I22m_WFr8c

in a way, a choreographer would have to think outside the box to come up with a program for dai to such music, because the balance and orderliness of the baroque/classical periods... you might associate those characteristics with another skater rather than dai of techno-swan and bachlorette fame. with pieces like this, i get the feeling i'm just asking dai to skate to music i like, rather than music that seems 'made for dai.' but that makes it all the more interesting-- in other words, not in an olympic year-- olympic year is pastoral symphony or tchaikovsky symphony #6! :D




i saw upthread admiration for 'the planets' production, saw someone's brilliant idea that dai could play several roles such as in coppelia. borrowing from that, i'll add several different movements from mendelssohn's midsummer night's dream.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUDvZaMl4RU


dai can skate as puck, oberon, even bottom in donkey form. i'm looking forward to conjuring up an image of large donkey ears on the ice... ^^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0CXf9IjgbO8#t=258s

sorry the orchestra wasn't having its finest day during this performance, but you get the idea...




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dLhSZLIpvA
if you like Mercury's footwork during 'the Planets,' i think the scherzo section provides similar opportunities for scintillating footwork.


now that i'm in ballet mode, it suddenly occurs to me that dai reminds me of nureyev. nureyev, unlike baryshnikov, did not have the most beautifully sculpted face or physique, or perhaps, the purest technique, but he had a certain raw magnetism and ardor, a certain tension to how he danced (often on the edge of being totally over the top, in my uneducated opinion). and that gave me the idea that dai could skate an exhibition to 'le corsaire' --and show off his improved stretch and line and incredible leaps and fleetness of foot. it might even be a sort of tribute to the great dancer kumakawa, who made such an impression on dai. i only ask that dai not dress in the memorable nureyev costume. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=dLItQ3vFUZk#t=251s


that's enough for now. for a skater i love, every piece of music i like calls for him to skate to it, LOL. even le corsaire, which i probably wouldn't have liked so much if fonteyn and nureyev hadn't imprinted it on my heart.
 
Last edited:

deedee1

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
WHOLE POST

Thank you so much for your suggestions and especially for your time for this, skfan! :)

For 'Fried green tomatoes', Tom Dickson comes to my mind for choreographer. He surely can make it an innovative and interesting program with this music.

I loved Appalachian Springs!

First time for me to encounter Aaron Copland as an composer, though I have listened to the 'Simple gifts' part and loved it a couple of times in the past, without even knowing the name of this music or who composed this beautiful piece. Thank you, skfan, for introducing new world of the music to me.

And as I explored youtube and found this one by Yo-Yo Ma & Alison Krauss:
Could be a great choice for Gala program for a female skater such as Ashley or Gracie, I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYi9Vr8bHJY&feature=fvsr


As for Dovorak's 'From New World Symphony', I would love him to skate to the 2nd movement mainly, with the 4th movement as an opening of his LP including quad(s), if 4th is a bit too familiar, as you say, to some people.

I agree with you, Tchaikovsky's symphony No. 6 will be a great choice for LP in the Olympic season!
And I love Beethoven's Pastoral myself, because of this 5th movement for its gracefullness.

As for great composers such as Beethoven and Mozart, why don't skaters or choreographers pick up music more often from these masterpieces?, I always wonder...

David Wilson as a choreographer can do a justice and wonder with these classical masterpieces! Listening to these music, now I miss Jeff and his skating full of gracefulness so much.
If David is going to do choreo for Dai next season again, I would love him to do Dai's LP with the classical music.

Oh, but I am not so sure, skfan, if I am for your idea of Daisuke as a doncky on the ice, though...:unsure::laugh:

Thanks to everyone who kindly posted verious vids of skating programs, beautiful music and excellent ballet, my Saturday afternoon has turned out to be lovely and very fruitful.

Thanks a million again, everyone, for all your suggestions and ideas for music, and most of all, for your explanations! Without your explanations and/or its reasonings, this thread would not have turned out so great, interesting and inspiring! :thumbsup:

And for that matter, I sincerely (seriously!) hope Daisuke and his choreographer (future choreographers for Dai, too) will be able to look into this thread. :yes:
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
SKfan, I love your suggestions.

Your suggestion of Mendelssohn made me think of his octet, which he wrote at about the same time as he wrote the incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream--at the age of SIXTEEN (astonishing, prodigious genius). Here's the first movement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZc8e4gUWQ

There's a slow second movement, and then this fast third movement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c55CEgQYP0U&feature=fvwrel

I actually think the first movement has a more useful tempo for skating, though it's longer and would have to be cut even for a long program.

I love the idea of Appalachian Spring, which after all was written as a ballet (for no less than Martha Graham and her dancers). There are two orchestrations of it, I believe: the full orchestra and a smaller ensemble that was probably the original version.

Another lovely Copland piece (apologies for the brief commercial preceding it, but this is the nicest orchestral version of it) is "The Promise of Living" from his opera The Tender Land. (There are also choral versions on YouTube.) I actually discovered this piece from a skating program! The one time I know of its use was when Sandra Bezic and Brian Boitano collaborated on an ice show that I got to see, years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLVyRvp2Qbg
 

deedee1

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
SKfan, I love your suggestions.

Your suggestion of Mendelssohn made me think of his octet, which he wrote at about the same time as he wrote the incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream--at the age of SIXTEEN (astonishing, prodigious genius). Here's the first movement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZc8e4gUWQ

There's a slow second movement, and then this fast third movement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c55CEgQYP0U&feature=fvwrel

I actually think the first movement has a more useful tempo for skating, though it's longer and would have to be cut even for a long program.

I love the idea of Appalachian Spring, which after all was written as a ballet (for no less than Martha Graham and her dancers). There are two orchestrations of it, I believe: the full orchestra and a smaller ensemble that was probably the original version.

Another lovely Copland piece (apologies for the brief commercial preceding it, but this is the nicest orchestral version of it) is "The Promise of Living" from his opera The Tender Land. (There are also choral versions on YouTube.) I actually discovered this piece from a skating program! The one time I know of its use was when Sandra Bezic and Brian Boitano collaborated on an ice show that I got to see, years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLVyRvp2Qbg

Thanks, Olympia, for another great pieces.

Listening to Mendelssohn's octet, I WANT Lambiel do the choreo to this music for Daisuke! :love:
I would love 3rd movement to be used for circular step sequence.

As for Copland's 'The Promise of Living', Brandon Mroz comes up to my mind, as a skater among the current American male skaters.
(And what a wrong choice to pick up for Mroz' LP this past season...:disapp:)

Again, why do not more American skaters skate to such wonderful pieces by their countrymen? Can be great opportunities to introduce their all time great composers to the world. :yes:
 
Last edited:

skfan

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 29, 2009
thank you Olympia and deedee1 for the kind words and the education. i especially love the 1st movement of the mendelssohn octet.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Again, why do not more American skaters skate to such wonderful pieces by their countrymen? Can be great opportunities to introduce their all time great composers to the world. :yes:

There isn't as much American music to draw from (in terms of classical, I mean), and it's not as widely known. For one thing, though good American orchestras play lots of music from the European tradition, I don't think a lot of American classical music is in the international repertoire. But we do have Gershwin and Copland, and our skaters (and coaches) should hunt through their works a bit more. Gordeyeva, with and without Grinkov, used quite a bit of Gershwin.

One lovely American work that's very obscure is the Fantasy on a Hymn Tune by Justin Morgan (slow but maybe useful if carefully cut or blended with something else). The composer, Thomas Canning, didn't write a lot else. It's obviously inspired by Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL0AALDObOY

Probably best-known American symphonic music is movie music, by people like Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams. (I think James Horner is British.) Certainly American skaters use a lot of that, but even there, they could be more creative and not use just what came out this year. One of my favorite American sound tracks is the one to The Right Stuff by Bill Conti. Definitely a guy's music, though (go, Sally Ride!) I'd love to see a strong lady skate to it. There's even some Polonaise rhythm at the end of it, surely one of the most infectious, toe-tapping rhythms in the world. Imagine that last full-orchestra segment for footwork!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmimRZSVIyo

Back to classical, there's not much nineteenth-century stuff; I've never heard any Edward McDowell that got my blood going, for example, and I think he was supposed to be our top guy. But there are some good passages from Louis Gottschalk; a favorite of mine is the last movement of his symphony, "A Night in the Tropics." You may notice that I tend to like syncopation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxqcaHMTyyE

I'm not at very familiar with Duke Ellington, but there are people who would vote for him over Gershwin as the best American composer ever. He'd certainly be splendid for skating. Here's one of his best known compositions, with himself at the piano, "Take the A Train." This one has vocals, but there are orchestral arrangements. (The A Train was the subway line that got people from midtown New York City to Harlem with no stops in between.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnurVNkg62Q

An orchestral composer I love is Howard Hanson, a post-romantic composer (meaning he used tunes! Yay! I mostly dislike dissonance). His Second Symphony, called "the Romantic" has lovely passages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGgznzG5Ygc

Ferde Grofe was what we used to call a "light classical" composer. He was best known for his Grand Canyon Suite. Janet Lynn once used a section from it in a pro program.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blqUdW1V2yg

And the last thing I can think of at the moment is the beginning of Virgil Thomson's The River, which incorporates a lovely traditional setting of the 23rd Psalm, "My Shepherd Shall Supply My Need." The theme breaks out at about 2:09, and I think it's glorious. There are other traditional and traditional-sounding melodies woven through it. This was written for a documentary about the Mississippi River, I believe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9zPMg8IL3w

Golly, I love this thread! It's giving me music fever. Who else can we think of?
 
Last edited:

OS

Sedated by Modonium
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Love this thread, so impressed with everyone's ideas and insights, it shows just the extend of Daisuke's versatility to allow us to play around with so many possibilities.

Just want to reply to Olympia. I have been an avid collector of film soundtracks since the late 80s. I consider James Horner the quintessentially modern American classical composer since John Williams, and a natural successor in their volume of commercially influential work. And like him they are both really great at creating haunting lyrical motifs (Field of dreams, Braveheart, Glory, Titanic, Beautiful mind, Legend of the fall, Mask of Zorro etc.) in their compositions and spend the rest dressing up in different variation of lustrous rich acoustic string sounds to build up that epic quality, and contrast of the quiet sensitive moments. Something Williams and Horner are really big master of, including continue to rip their own work on and on again. Something all established composers inevitably ends up doing with overwhelming commissioned work due to that established sound. Especially John Barry - a British composer famous for his James Bond works, Out of Africa, everything after this have similar sounds. Since Horner and William, I am sad to see the trend of non traditional classical acoustic instruments used in most of today's OSTs, and the sounds tends to be more artificial electrical instrument/software post production sounds.

I would also consider the Newman family of composers responsible for cornering 'American cultural phenomenon' sounds. Randy Newman start with his fantastic work on possibly one of the greatest 'American Dream' soundtrack of all time for 'The Natural', 'Avalon', and his younger cousin Thomas Newman followed up with a dash of electric piano tinkling modernism in 'American beauty', 'Meet Joe Black', and stuck with his troupe of political, socially aware film makers, Sam Mendes, Steve Soderbergh, Mike Nichols, Todd Field etc, that he has since became the thinking man's version of Randy Newman. I also adore most of Dave Grusin's work (and his collaboration lee Ritenour), who's Jazzy Bluesy sounds get a distinctive independent streak type of sounds different from most American greats that favours European string instruments, perhaps should be more widely appreciated.

John Wiliam is a true maestro of big orchestral, rich lustrious sounds (lots of Wagner, Strauss, Tchaikovsky with a touch of Ravel, Mahler) that paint fantasy, imagination, epic, bigger than life cinematic themese and makes them even richer. Horner's scoring 'Willow' however is one of the best adventure fantasy score ever wholly underrated that can stand on head on shoulder with William's monumental Superman, ET, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, Golden 1980s-2000 of his career. Work post 2000 tends to be a bit more experimental and more abstract but still distinguishable as Williams.

It is interesting to note, British Composer have always had a big presence in Hollywood, as well as the odd French(Desplat, Jarre, Serra) and Italian (Rota, Morricone..superb). Hans Zimmer, George Fenton, Rachel Portman, Nyman (who passed away too early), Craig Armstrong, Harry Gregson-Williams, David Holmes, David Arnold, John Barry, Nick Glennie Smith and John Powell (both mentored by Zimmer) to name a few.

To bring it back to Daisuke, I would love him to maybe go either entirely Classical European, or consider the often neglected Asian realm perhaps explore something Japanese? There are so many great work outside the Hollywood Film scores and soundtracks. I really love Kozuka's choice this year having a brand new bespoke recording of Joe Hisaishi's (Japan's equivalent of John Williams) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind that is just right for a skating program. Something I also knew Kozuka would be entirely wrong for (never thought he had the right finesse or musicality to do that music justice where emotion and empathy are crucial ingredients) despite making a great choice and is an honorable failure. Perhaps Daisuke would consider taking similar approach to celebrate the work of Hisashi. Possibly Porco Russo, Departures (absolutely love this OST and the film) or Laputa Castle in the sky (one of the top 3 OST he has composed imo), althought the latter might suite Hanyu better!

Here's Hisaishi's Departures and its amazing Cello
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qWZbv7c8fI
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Oh, that piece is lovely! Thanks for the link.

I'm happy to consider Horner American! He's one of my forever favorites. I love all the Horner sound tracks you mention, and also The Rocketeer (which American medalist Aren Nielsen used for a wonderful long program the year he won a U.S. bronze, I think) and the two Cocoon movies. I know some of the other composers you mention and will look up the others. One thing I like about both John Williams and James Horner is that they do their own orchestrations. I believe that Danny Elfman does not. (Neither does Paul McCartney, come to that. And he wrote a cantata!)

I agree with you that movie music isn't the best choice for Daisuke, though. I'd go with European classical music or Asian music as you would. Lots of good suggestions in both these areas on this thread! When he comes out with his new programs for the upcoming season, I wonder whether his choices will all make us feel as if we are responsible for his career success.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
For that matter, Boitano used Copeland for his failed Lillehammer Olympic LP, AFAIR? So Copeland has been used by at least one American skater. He used Appalachian Spring/Lincoln Portrait by Copeland.
 

ImaginaryPogue

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
I agree with you that movie music isn't the best choice for Daisuke, though. I'd go with European classical music or Asian music as you would. Lots of good suggestions in both these areas on this thread! When he comes out with his new programs for the upcoming season, I wonder whether his choices will all make us feel as if we are responsible for his career success.

His Olympic LP was to "La Strada."

I love os168's suggestion of "Laputa" though - probably my favourite Miyazaki movie/Hisaishi score.
 
Top