Music talk

[SitTwizzle]

Thank you!

I used to have an early CD (stolen a few years ago) and there was a VHS released in 1986 or 1987? (not sure), only in Japan, which Deutsche Gramophon have officially put on Youtube lately.

I don't think he has recorded the Ballades since, but he does play them in concert from time to time.

[SitTwizzle]

One thing I have learnt recently (and there too, I should have suspected at least part of it, as Krystian Zimerman seems to have had a very dedicated Japanese "fanbase" as early as his 1987 VHS release only in Japan), is that in a 2003 concert in Japan, he did an address in Japanese (and contrary to French President Macron and his English, he wouldn't have spoken without a great proficiency in the language) and from 2005, he had a pied-à-terre in Tokyo. I am sure it made things easier to communicate personally with Yuzuru Hanyu.

[Sombreuil]

I’m listening to Satie’s Gnosiennes atm and thinking if he wanted to stick with piano music the melancholy weirdness of these might suit him well

 

[memae]

Just imagine what he could do with Holst's Mars (as in Bringer of War) in a fierce red costume. 

[SitTwizzle]

Anna Shcherbakova has it at the beginning of her free program, and I like it.

[monchan]

Yuzu seems to really like dramatic/fast-paced pieces (he himself chose POTO/Origin/LGC, and showed interest with Winter/Don Quixote etc.), I appreciate that but the sad fact is he never skated them clean:(. Hope Yuzu realized that and makes wise choice next season.

[_geee_]

!!!Question for the experts/older fans!!! 

 

Context first (Skip to below for just the question):

 

Newbie here. Hiya! 

 

I started watching figure skating just a few months ago, and fell in love with the musicality of Hanyu’s performances. His programs are beautifully choreographed to be loyal to the dramatic, dynamic, emotion-packed rhythms and melodies of the songs he chooses. 

 

That said, I think I’ve developed some understanding of the types of songs Hanyu skates to. I don’t mean to be pretentious or disrespectful in any way, but I have a few ideas for musical pieces I have found and adore that fit the criteria above. I would love nothing more than to be able to send this music to Hanyu and/or Coach Orser to give the little help I can to this amazing skater, and possibly show him new music for potentially new programs. Again, I don’t mean for any of this to sound disrespectful or immature, and apologize if I come across as so. I know we share music in this topic, but I would really love to send this to them.

 

Question: 

 

However, I do not know how to contact them in a way where I can send this music to them (being the amateur I am, I’m planning on just sending YouTube links, but I can send downloaded versions if needed). Any ideas of how to do so?? Much, much love from a fellow fan and aspiring musician!!

 

[SitTwizzle]

Well, you can send it by paper mail to Yuzuru Hanyu himself, or any of his coaches (Brian Orser, Tracy Wilson or Ghislain Briand), either in English for any of them, or in Japanese for Yuzuru Hanyu, or in French to Ghislain Briand, at their skating rink :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Cricket%2C_Skating_and_Curling_Club

Or to Tracy Wilson's Instagram :

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9pS2Q8JNWw/

 

Yet, I feel Yuzuru Hanyu may already have chosen one of his programs for next season, or both. At least he did review a number of musics, when he switched programs between Grand Prix Final (December 5-7) and 4CC (February 4-9), as he said it himself.

[fyere0]

In case MR. LURKER is lurking and he or anyone else needs some entertainment/inspiration.  

 

"The Lark" -- listen all the way through! It's not unlike Chopin's Ballade in that it has a repeating motif and builds and builds to a dramatic crescendo. The ending that shifts into a hopeful major key sets it apart. You can envision the lark soaring away into a peaceful sky.

 

As far as I can see, it's been used by Charlotte Vandersarren (BEL) as a SP but I can't find a video.

 

[Glory]

1 hour ago, fyere0 said:

In case MR. LURKER is lurking and he or anyone else needs some entertainment/inspiration.  

 

"The Lark" -- listen all the way through! It's not unlike Chopin's Ballade in that it has a repeating motif and builds and builds to a dramatic crescendo. The ending that shifts into a hopeful major key sets it apart. You can envision the lark soaring away into a peaceful sky.

 

As far as I can see, it's been used by Charlotte Vandersarren (BEL) as a SP but I can't find a video.

 

Very beautiful! Love the ending and he could still wear feathers on his costume

[fyere0]

HI, LURKING ZUZURA! Skate to a cello piece! This would make a graceful, wistful lullaby of an exhibition program. Once again, listen all the way through with your favourite classical headphones.

 

[fyere0]

Which warhorses do you think need to be brought back and sparkled up into a Yuzu program?

 

For the sake of that climax alone, let's turn the Pas de Deux into a dramatic SP!

 

 

A few Nutcracker tracks cut together would also make an excellent free program. Some parts are light and playful, some parts are dramatic, some parts are romantic. Just go for the less overtly Christmas-sounding or little kid ballet class parts. (Or don't. If you want to go full HAPPY MERRY CHRISTMAS for a season, who's stopping you? Not I! I'm not going to pretend I wouldn't want to see Yuzuru Hanyu wilding out to the Trepak. )

 

[SitTwizzle]

Well, a pas-de-deux is a pas-de-deux, meant to be a duo. And I am sure he would be as attentive a partner as Nikolay Tsiskaridze (here, also his partner's coach).

 

[SitTwizzle]

Speaking of Nikolay Tsiskaridze... Yesterday evening I have rewatched his Haru yo, Koi and thought about a comparison between the takes on a pink flower by the two dancing G.O.A.T., and wondered in which thread it would fit. Maybe this.

Though the differences are great between these programs. Haru yo, Koi is a solo representing the spring (with all its Japanese and YH meanings) through a cherry tree flower turning in the spring wind, whereas The Spirit of the Rose is a duo, where the young maid personifies innocence (with a very-XIXth Century, reserved style of dancing) while the rose is twofold : both an innocent (but captivating) flower and a messenger/symbol of the lust of the poet, causing a turmoil in the young maid's dreams by his "Ballets russes" sensual style of dancing. The music being XIXth Century but a waltz, rather sensual.

Warning : on the ballet video, the first ballet (11 first minutes) is The Spirit of the Rose, which I think is "general public", but it is followed by Afternoon of a Faun and Sheherazade, which I find much less so.

Here is a translation of the Théophile Gautier poem on which the ballet is based, found on mcglamorous.com :

 

Sweet lady, let your lids unclose.–
Those lids by maiden dreams caressed;
I am the phantom of the rose
You wore last night upon your breast.
Like pearls upon my petals lay
The weeping fountain’s silver tears,
Ere in the glittering array
You bore me proudly ‘mid your peers.

O lady, ’twas for you I died–
Yet have I come and will I stay;
My rosy phantom by your side
Will linger till the break of day.
Yet fear not, lady; naught claim I–
Nor mass, nor hymn, or funeral prayer;
My soul is but a perfumed sigh,
Which pure from Paradise I bear.

My death is as my life was–sweet;
Who would not die as I have done?
A fate like mine who would not meet,
Your bosom fair to lie upon?
A poet on my sentient tomb
Engraved this legend with a kiss:
‘Here lies a rose of fairest bloom;
E’en kings are jealous of its bliss.

 

Here's the original poem in French :

Soulève ta paupière close

Qu’effleure un songe virginal ;

Je suis le spectre d’une rose

Que tu portais hier au bal.

Tu me pris encore emperlée

Des pleurs d’argent de l’arrosoir,

Et parmi la fête étoilée

Tu me promenas tout le soir.

Ô toi qui de ma mort fus cause,

Sans que tu puisses le chasser

Toute la nuit mon spectre rose

À ton chevet viendra danser.

Mais ne crains rien, je ne réclame

Ni messe ni De Profundis ;

Ce léger parfum est mon âme

Et j’arrive du paradis.

Mon destin fut digne d’envie :

Pour avoir un trépas si beau,

Plus d’un aurait donné sa vie,

Car j’ai ta gorge pour tombeau,

Et sur l’albâtre où je repose

Un poète avec un baiser

Écrivit : Ci-gît une rose

Que tous les rois vont jalouser.

 

 

What are your thoughts about these two takes on a pink flower, one century distant, one Easter, the other Western, etc?

 

Edit : I corrected those faults so late...

[monchan]

2 piano pieces by foreign classical composers he skated to are all in Your Lie in April OST (Ballade no.1 and Etude in D), any chance if he's inclined to piano, he might pick another one in its album  Cuz I suppose if he chooses classical music, it must be smt "one of the most famous" of that composer in Jp. And I think that anime did pick things that are more familiar with Jp public. He might not skate to Chopin again what a pity I love Winter Wind and Revolutionary Etude. Thou Love's Sorrow and The Sleeping Beauty are great too