Re: What's with the emotional side young ladies?
"I think that it's fine to like the young skaters for what they do well, and that there's no reason to blame them for not being older than they are"
ITA, can not blame them for not older than they are. I think younger skaters should choose pieces that are age appropriate though. Remember how cute 13 y/o NNN was with her tiny pretty little one? Perfect for her age, OTOH if she tries Habanera from Carmen that will really be yuk!! It will be equally yuk if a 30 y/o Witt tries tiny pretty one. If young skater(s) trie(s) anything that is not age appropriate, (like 13 y/o dancers doing steaming hot Latin numbers) we don't blame them, but we have to question the wisdom of his or her coaches. We definitely don't have to like their numbers just because they are young and cute, and have balletic lines.
"Young people may have a shallow view of suffering, love, death, etc. -- all the emotional biggies -- but hey, they know crushes and puppy love, they know sadness and disappointment, they know joy of a purity that us old folks can only envy, and I don't see why a youngster can't honestly portray on the ice the emotions that do bedevil the teenage years"
Puppy love, and saddness experiences may not be enough to prepare a young skater for Tristan and Isolde, or Madame Butterfly. ( Still worry about AP using Madame Butterfly) I think there are alternatives that are good for the young skaters.
Imagine a young skater dressed in a pink costume, like she is going to attend a birthday party, skating to Um Bel Di, with lyrics (the music used in fatal attraction when Glenn Close fantasized about Mike Douglas). Butterfly was longing for Pinkerton's return, she fantasized 'ah some day when he returns I will flirt with him a little bit, we will make wild love'.
I don't think we can be blamed as audience for thinking the program is entirely in appropriate.
"I have two recordings of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto in E flat performed by Wynton Marsalis. One was made when he was 20 (it won the grammy for best classical release that year, and he also won for best jazz ablum for Think of One). The other was made when he was 30 (The London Concert).
I liked the earlier performance better. There's just something about youth. It's that feeling of, "the world is my oyster and I gonna grab me the biggest pearl I can find," that we sacrifice in exchange for emotional depth as we get older"
Musicians perform and record the same pieces over and over for decades. I have a feeling the 20 y/o Marsalis recording would not be his best or worst recording. Takako recorded Butterfly lovers violin concerto 7 times in 3 decades. Menuhin had a life long obssession with Beethoven's violin concerto since 9 y/o to late 70s. He first performed it at 12 with the Berlin Philharmonic, and his best performance was at his 30s. ( I do not have the 12 y/o recording, I speculate it was not as good as the later ones)
In the violin hierachy, Beethoven's v ct is the Mt Everest. Most teachers will put that as the top of the packing order. If you check the repertoire of some violinsts in their web page e.g. Chee Yun (in her late 20s), she is not even performing this piece in concert halls. Sarah Chang, child prodigy is performing it in concert halls, but has not made the step to commit to her first recording, and she is 20. Joshua Bell just recorded it for the first time, and he is 34. Hahn took the step to record it at 18, in 1998. (She did a good job, wonderful technique, IMO she still needs to digest this a bit more, but I respect her effort). It is not the most difficult piece to perform, for that they turn to Paganini, and Chang recorded her first piece of Paganin at 9. All these violinists have the talent to master the technique, but they have to gauge their own timing, and maturity before performing/ recording it. But if they choose to put this piece out in public, they will be judged on how well they deliver, don't get free passes just because they are young. I jumped onto the Hahn wagon after I bought her Beethoven cd, I am a fan, she has potential but that does not mean I pay her recording the same respect I have for Menuhin's legendary 1947 recording.
Returning back to topic, I believe there are pieces of music that require certain maturity from skaters. If they choose to skate to age inappropraite pieces, they will be judged by some audience for their inability to deliver.
BTW, Michelle's Salome was age appropriate, Salome was a teeage girl. The essence of Salome for me include and not limited to some budding teenage sexuality. Michelle delivered that in a very tasteful way.
Yes bring on the young cute ones with balletic lines, and find some age appropriate music and theme for them.
