Uhh I hope you don't mind being distracted from the 'who can interpret Patrick Chan better contest' , but I'd love to talk about their skating programs a bit, and their contrasting qualities.
I really enjoy revisiting their different approaches to devise their programs. Having reflected it a bit, it really says alot about the skaters, their mind set and where in the career they are.
Patrick's 3 cuts edit of Chopin consist of
Scherzo no.1
Revolution Etude. Both written in between 1831-1832 around the same time as Hanyu's
Ballade No.1 SP (1831).
Both written when Chopin was just age 22, literally between Hanyu and Patrick's current age, 20 and 24 respectively. They were composed during the time of Chopin's home country Poland failing uprising against Russian Empire, where I presume Chopin experienced some loneliness and helplessness having just moved to Vienna. Although the work themselves has never been formally attributed to these happenings, it is nevertheless in the title, and it is up to the listeners to make what of the musical descriptions and what they may be inspired by. It was a period of stylistic change for Chopin, transitioned from calm, serene, brilliant to dramatic, dark and somber tonal quality, passionate, fervent. I can only contemplate his mindset given everything that has has been going on at the time.
Then there's
Opus 28 (1839 when Chopin age 29. Apparently written when he was ill, 2 years just after Beethoven's passing... and a special piece of music Chopin has requested to be played at his own funeral), wiki list it was when
Chopin essentially established a new genre with his own set of free-standing preludes (Op. 28, published 1839). He exploited the poetic potential of the concept of the concert étude, already being developed in the 1820s and 1830s by Liszt, Clementi and Moscheles, in his two sets of studies
One can only speculate the discussion Patrick and David Wilson has when come up with these particular music construct for Patrick's return to the sport. Of these 3 particular edits. Perhpas it is Patrick's own story to tell that is why it worked so well for me even at first time? It is about burying the past, have his revolution and uprising, however hopeless it can be before saying good bye to the sport? Hopefully without regret? To me at least his performance isn't convoluted with symbolism in choreography, features, but the whole thing flows seamlessly despite 3 different pieces. It was literally about him embodying the essence in the music and became the concept itself, in its simplicity, isolation and purity. Confident in his own virtuosity like Chopin was, moodiness, unapologetic and completely devoid of pretension... his commanding delivery became the virtuoso himself.
When you compare to something like Seimei, it seems too trying in encompassing symbolism, features, highlights, and packaged like a Michael Jackson program which really tells the artistic approach differences, the mindset of the chaser, the overdoing/thinking of an young aspiring master excited to put together an epic work, an epic journey. Their programs are true to who they are.
For me, right now
Hanyu is Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, the Beatles.
Patrick is Gene Kelly, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra.
Hanyu is Jazz. Patrick is Classicso.
Hanyu is Matisse, Picasso, Chagall, Kandinsky, Alessi. Patrick is Rembrandt, Vermeer, William Morris, Bauhaus.
Hanyu is Visace, Dolce Gabbana, Jean Paul Gaultier, Cavalli, Sandy Powell. Patrick is Prada, Fendi, Armani, Ferragamo.
(Mind you... i think I am being too kind with their fashion tastes. They are more like 'where ever Liberace shops' vs Gap!)
Hanyu is Vogue, Patrick is Text book.
Hanyu is Disney/Universal, Patrick is Natural History Museum.
Alot to enjoy from both for very different things...
as far as the tech content is concerned : chan is building up. we will see what he brings up over the next couple years... i would like to see how the other skaters would fare after skipping two WCs and coming back to GP season.... i feel that many fans here are unreasonably demanding... this is a skater who hasn't competed since sochi 2014, 18 months or so ago... and what? you expect him not only to be as good as before but have even more challenging elements? 
