Hindsight is 20-20, and hindsight tells me Yuki et al. talked the talk but didn't walk the walk, when it comes to giving Nathan breathing space, much less 'time to be a kid.' No doubt Nathan and his family have their share in this, but they've never been sponsored before and Yuki has arranged sponsorship deals before.
I'm consulting a music expert and will get back to you when I've heard from my teacher
On my own I would say no to Requiem, piano concerto 23, the ones I've heard used recently, though I think Nathan can do a good job with piano concerto 23. The problem for me is Mozart is *my* favorite as well, and the music length limit often requires that the music be hacked, butchered, to fit the time limit. The better I know the music, the more abrupt a disruptive cut will sound to me. But assuming a smooth music cut (subjective, I know) could be made, I'd love to see the Jupiter Symphony, the Prague Symphony. Didn't Nathan say he'd seen the movie Amadeus? Well, how about Piano Concerto 20, K 466 in D minor? Or Concerto For Flute & Harp, K 299.I like Stairway to Heaven the best of the pieces you named here. I agree with you re: his gala pieces.
Re: Lori. Thank you for explaining your logic, that Shae is the first he's gone to twice. But I think Lori and Nathan started to build something together. He himself said no one has explained to him via pictures why presenting himself in this way is advantageous, etc. He said he is interested in choreography. We know he has already done choreography for his exhibitions. But Lori is the first to entrust him with the weighty responsibility of brainstorming choreography for his Olympic season long program. Now the flip side of that is the more Nathan feels he owns his choreography, the more free he may feel to pare it down, to our eternal regret if it's a detail we love, but I don't see another choreographer who has invited him to collaborate in this way. If he stays with Raf, I find it even more likely that he'll stay with Lori. Raf trusts Lori not to poach his student. He didn't go back to Zueva because IMHO that would have been rubbing salt in Raf's wound. Plus, there was always the possibility that he'd have a miraculous reason and quit and go to Harvard--so why not work with two new people in possibly the very last season of his career? That's just more groundless speculation on my part. I really like how he developed after working with Lori. Shae guided him, too, but I guess I like to give all the credit to Lori because she made him take skating skills class, and let him create. It's ironic--he said he let his choreographers pick music for him
me speculating now: is that more of 'for my family's sake, I won't be a stubborn kid and pick what I like, instead I'll trust experts who supposedly know what's best for me?' *clarifying* just my speculation re: Nathan's thought process.
I'm sorry, it keeps coming back to my hatred of Vera Wang's work. It's not just the neutering of his curls, it's what it represents. WHEN WILL THIS TYRANNY END?????? where's the FSU soapbox emoticon when I need one?
I also like Shae's work for him and would like to see a program that's significantly different from Nemesis and No Good in the future.
Thanks everyone for all your well-articulated thoughts. (hey, i learned to multi-quote, but in exchange, from now on capital letters may be deemed optional ;p
) it's this song (listen from 00:00 to 01:35):
