2017-2018 Program Music and Choreographers

[Willin]

Really?

That free program music was mute worthy. Almost as mute worthy as Daleman's department store piano version of Gladiator.

I've never really understood what possesses skaters to take a perfectly good piece of music (ie. the original cast recording or soundtrack piece) and replace it with a terrible cover version of the song. It is way too common. If you want to skate to something, skate to it - not a cover of it. There are cases of covers/different arrangements working (Mirai's Miss Saigon comes to mind), but they are very much the exception and not the rule.

I remember one year at Synchro Worlds (maybe 2010?) no fewer than two teams used awful covers of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Mis done by pop artists. Same backing track, same lyrics, same tempo as the musical version but with awful pop vocals instead of emotion.

 

[chapis]

I've never really understood what possesses skaters to take a perfectly good piece of music (ie. the original cast recording or soundtrack piece) and replace it with a terrible cover version of the song. It is way too common. If you want to skate to something, skate to it - not a cover of it. There are cases of covers/different arrangements working (Mirai's Miss Saigon comes to mind), but they are very much the exception and not the rule.
.

That always seems so vulgar IMO .

 

[Marco]

Loved it when Michelle Kwan did the special version of Hands, the live Eva Cassidy version of Fields of Gold, and the Aranjuez version she did in 2003.

Also loved it when Maria Bute did that hot version of Carmen as exhibition piece in 2000.

 

[dinakt]

Really?

That free program music was mute worthy. Almost as mute worthy as Daleman's department store piano version of Gladiator.

I almost didn't notice their program as I kept staring at my ex-boyfriend Klimov's 1/4 inch starter-bun. Oyyyyyyyyyy.

I say let Trankov be Trankov and you be Klimov.

???
They are using one of the most traditional "Carmen" versions (apart from the original), Bizet-Shchedrin Carmen-Suite, which Shchedrin wrote as a one-act ballet for Plisetskaya. By now it is almost as famous as the original, and the cuts S/K chose fit together quite well. What makes it mute-worthy?
My most WTH music of the moment is Stepanova/Bukin's FD.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

???
They are using one of the most traditional "Carmen" versions (apart from the original), Bizet-Shchedrin Carmen-Suite, which Shchedrin wrote as a one-act ballet for Plisetskaya. By now it is almost as famous as the original, and the cuts S/K chose fit together quite well. What makes it mute-worthy?
My most WTH music of the moment is Stepanova/Bukin's FD.

I said Free skate My Love. I havent yet watched the SP.

I think they have ruined Besame Mucho for me forever.

If thats what she sounds like then no kisses from me.

Just grating music.

 

[meggonzo]

I thought Besame Mucho was the SP, and Carmen the LP?

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I thought Besame Mucho was the SP, and Carmen the LP?

oh was it? My bad. Then I hope to see the free tonight.

 

[Tinami Amori]

You're welcome to believe what you want.

I am disputing your statement about "Jose" character in the Carmen story.

Don Jose was only in the military because it was that or prison, having killed a man in a fight: he's hardly an innocent creature.

This statement is NOT correct. Not only the official libretto proves otherwise, but the words in the opera songs as well.

Your explanation that there is such a fact in the mythological/historic sources on which the story is based is not a valid argument; and the words of "Mother''s message" prove no such thing either.

 

[Spun Silver]

Pardon me for butting in in but I found a text of the libretto with an Act 1 scene between Jose and his lieutenant (often omitted, it seems) where Jose gives a bit of autobiography:

José
Que voulez-vous?... ces Andalouses me font peur. Je ne suis pas fait à leurs manières, toujours à railler... jamais un mot de raison...

Le lieutenant
Et puis nous avons un faible pour les jupes bleues, et pour les nattes tombant sur les épaules...

José riant
Ah! mon lieutenant a entendu ce que me disait Moralès?..

Le lieutenant
Oui...

José
Je ne le nierai pas... la jupe bleue, les nattes... c'est le costume de la Navarre... ça me rappelle le pays...

Le lieutenant
Vous êtes Navarrais?

José
Et vieux chrétien. Don José Lizzarabengoa, ç'est mon nom... On voulait que je fusse d'église, et l'on m'a fait étudier. Mais je ne profitais guère, j'aimais trop jouer à la paume... Un jour que j'avais gagné, un gars de l'Alava me chercha querelle; j'eus encore l'avantage, mais cela m'obligea de quitter le pays. Je me fis soldat! Je n'avais plus mon père; ma mère me suivit et vint s'établir à dix lieues de Séville... avec la petite Micaëla... c'est une orpheline que ma mère a recueillie, et qui n'a pas voulu se séparer d'elle...
http://opera.stanford.edu/Bizet/Carmen/acte1.html

Jose is afraid of Andalusian girls with their mocking, irrational ways. He is an old (or former?) Christian, originally intended (by his mother, presumably) to become a priest, but he liked playing handball (or some ball game) too much. Once when he won some guy from Alava (Basque town) picked a fight with him which Jose won (nothing said about killing if I'm not mistaken), which forced him and his mother, with Micaela, to leave Navarre. The reason for that is not clear -- perhaps the Basques were ascendant there at the time?

FWIW, I think @kwanfan1818's feminist Carmen would play quite well, but Jose is clearly the weak one of the two. He had good reason to fear this Andalusian girl. She destroys his sense of self and his reason, and since she ends up dying as a result of her very intentional acts, even telling him to stab her or let her go at the end, to call her self-destructive seems fair IMO. She lives by her feelings, for the moment, and doesnt care about law, the past or the future. Jose is a simple ball-playing boy who traded the Church's law (which is still part of him) for military law. Without law and reason he is lost. These two were bound to have a tragic end.

 

[kwanfan1818]

There's nothing feminist in my take on Carmen: she lets everyone know that she does what she wants, she wants what she wants, she loves the way she wants -- physically and emotionally -- and then she does everything in her power to be able to do all that.

When confronted with the choice to save her own life by doing what someone else wants, but that she doesn't want, she goes with death. Please let me know what in the libretto or music contradicts what I wrote or tells another story.

 

[Spun Silver]

There's nothing feminist in my take on Carmen: she lets everyone know that she does what she wants, she wants what she wants, she loves the way she wants -- physically and emotionally -- and then she does everything in her power to be able to do all that.

When confronted with the choice to save her own life by doing what someone else wants, but that she doesn't want, she goes with death. Please let me know what in the libretto or music contradicts what I wrote or tells another story.

? I already did. Jose is not involved in a bar fight but a ball game, he doesnt kill anyone but wins a fight that someone else picked with him, he isnt a stereotypical Spanish hothead but a simple law and order guy/former candidate for the priesthood who meets a gal from another culture who's way too hot for him to handle. Carmen lives freely, lawlessly and dangerously in a way that both the music and the libretto show leads directly to death, so to summarize that as self-destructive is maybe an oversimplification but not off-base. And since women's agency, as shown in the description of Carmen you just gave above (minus the choosing death part) is a key feminist concept, I dont really understand why you are so adamant about refusing it. It's ahistorical perhaps but then discovering female agency in the women of the past (historical, operatic, or fictional) has been a massive enterprise of feminist researchers.

There, I'm done. Carry on.

 

[Ananas Astra]

Please...staaaaahp: http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb...pbattlesofhistory/images/0/06/NobodyCares.gif

 

[kwanfan1818]

? I already did. Jose is not involved in a bar fight but a ball game, he doesnt kill anyone but wins a fight that someone else picked with him, he isnt a stereotypical Spanish hothead but a simple law and order guy/former candidate for the priesthood who meets a gal from another culture who's way too hot for him to handle.

You haven't in the slightest, because my statement about Carmen has zero to do with whether Don Jose is a killer, a sheepdog, or a ballplayer. It had to do with Carmen's statements and actions, all of which are in the libretto and music.

 

[Tinami Amori]

You haven't in the slightest, because my statement about Carmen has zero to do with whether Don Jose is a killer, a sheepdog, or a ballplayer. It had to do with Carmen's statements and actions, all of which are in the libretto and music.

It's not like she knew him at all when she decided she wanted to have sex with him. I don't think she would have bothered if she thought he'd be clingy, let alone a homicidal stalker. But she lived and died by her own code, accepted her fate in the cards, and didn't back down.

 

[kwanfan1818]

That wasn't the statement that Spun Silver quoted, but, go on.

 

[Dobre]

(Dipping one toe--and only one--in the water).

She's a strong woman with strong opinions.

And she dies.

Typical of a great deal of not-so-feminist early art & literature, IMO. But the show succeeds today largely because she's a strong character that modern women want to play. The same reason people want to play Eponine instead of Cosette. The role is more appealing to a modern female perspective, even if the original message was if-you-act-this-way-you-are-toast.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Actors and opera singers often say that it's much more interesting to play the villains and the bad girls. Jamie Barton couldn't control her glee when she described how much she loved playing Jezibaba, who got to do very bad things. Carmen must be a hoot to play.

 

[kwanfan1818]

English National Ballet just tweeted a link to a video featuring Jeffrey Cirio, who is guesting with ENB in Songs of the Earth and La Sylphide:

https://twitter.com/ENBallet/status/917787445365760000

Does anyone recognize the guys in Songs with the headband and the beard?

 

[Tinami Amori]

The same reason people want to play Eponine instead of Cosette. The role is more appealing to a modern female perspective, even if the original message was if-you-act-this-way-you-are-toast.

I actually know 2 women, not very tall and boyish looking, who rather play Gavroche.

 

[lauravvv]

That wasn't the statement that Spun Silver quoted, but, go on.

From what I see, Spun Silver did not quote you at all in that post, just adressed some of your statements in general, including that of Jose supposedly having killed someone (according to you) etc.

 

[kwanfan1818]

From what I see, Spun Silver did not quote you at all in that post, just adressed some of your statements in general, including that of Jose supposedly having killed someone (according to you) etc.

There's a direct quote of mine about Carmen only in post 2711 to which Spun Silver replied. And then in typical fashion, responded and then said she was out.

As far as Don Jose goes, even if he is a handball-loving, altar boy model soldier coming in, which is not in the original source, in the opera itself, his default behavior when jealous and having been humiliated by another man -- Zuniga, Escamillo ( "I only kill animals, not people") -- is violence (however unsuccessful), and after he leaves the mountain to go to his dying mother after Escamillo kicks his ass in front of everyone, he threatens that he's going to die to get her -- premeditation -- which means taking on her latest boyfriend physically. (He doesn't expect to die fighting Carmen, even if she has knife skills.) So, perhaps I should have described him as a homicidal wannabee, since the only one in the opera he can overcome physically is Carmen. Add in controlling, because he thinks if he wins a fight, that means he owns Carmen, which, as we've already seen, isn't the case.

Also, even if he is in over his head with Carmen, he knows this going in: in the duet with Michaela, after Habanera and he's taken the flower) he tells Michaela that he was about to do something stupid and was saved by the bell. (But he does it anyway.)

But it's all Carmen's fault, because she's so meeeean.

 

[cgirl8]

Mariah Bell's ISU bio has updated with a new SP to Stand By Me by Florence and the Machine
http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00054128.htm

 

[VGThuy]

I was hoping she’d change that LP too. The SP should be interesting.

 

[Wyliefan]

So now she's changed both programs! Hope the new SP is good.

 

[Polina2006]

Polina TSURSKAYA
Music Short Program / Short Dance as of season 2017/2018
Light of the Seven (Games of Thrones soundtrack) by Ramin Djawadi
Music Free Skating / Free Dance as of season 2017/2018
Nocturne in F Minor Op. 55, No. 1 by Frederic Chopin (arr. by Chad Lawson for Piano)
Song for the Little Sparrow performed by Patricia Kaas

Polina's FS sounds really interesting!

Anna POGORILAYA
Music Short Program / Short Dance as of season 2017/2018
Esperanza by Maxime Rodriguez
Music Free Skating / Free Dance as of season 2017/2018
Swan Lake by Petr I. Tchaikovski

 

[VGThuy]

Whoa, Anna Pogo doing Swan Lake? I'm actually looking forward to that, even though I haven't really been big on her LPs before. I just like her.

 

[Bellanca]

I'm glad to see Mariah taking the necessary steps to keep her National podium goals alive - front and center. When Mariah is skating consistently clean, everyone should take note and be a little nervous. I hope that she has a solid season and that she keeps focused on what she can control. Mariah is in the right spot, she does not have quite the pressure and new expectations weighing on her that a few of the other ladies do, but, she can indeed rock the boat, much like Bradie Tennell. A nice position to be especially in an Olympic year.

 

[oleada]

Mariah Bell's ISU bio has updated with a new SP to Stand By Me by Florence and the Machine
http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00054128.htm

Oh, I'm interested. I really like that cover.

 

[Tinami Amori]

So, perhaps I should have described him (Jose) as a homicidal wannabee, since the only one in the opera he can overcome physically is Carmen.
-----
But it's all Carmen's fault, because she's so meeeean.

I am not going to argue this one.... But i just remembered this story, don't know why....

There is an anecdote said to be told by Picasso himself in his later years:
“I was on a riverbank, practicing some landscapes. I dipped my brushes into the water to wash the acrylic out. Not far down the stream there was a boy with his Mother. Boy was playing with sticks in the water; he sees me, then looks at the water, turns to Mother and says, pointing in my direction: Look Mother! Some filthy hobo is making water dirty!

 

[aftershocks]

According to her comments to Japanese media after the FS, Anna Karenina will be Medvedeva’s FS from now on.

A good decision. Now if only Med would tone down her OTT angsty facial expressions and faux drama. I think she had some very lovely moments in the Anna Karenina fp, and as others have noted, her tendency to over-dramatize works better with this music and storyline. Still less is better when it comes to those arch facial expressions.

Next I want to see Med as Coppelia. She's definitely got the doll-like physique and those gorgeous round baby brown eyes. I'm surprised no one on her team thought of this perfect music theme for her. It's likely due to their ill-advised tendency to always want to make Med look so much older and old womanish than her age.