Iconic Music | Golden Skate

Iconic Music

Skate2Music

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Is their any music that is so iconic to a single skater or team that you fell shouldn't be used? I don't believe in baning music but it may be hard for other skaters to interrupt it well since its heavely associated with a particular skater/team.

Example Lyra Angelica ( Michelle Kwan)
Rhapsody on a them of Paganini for pairs (Ina and Zimmerman). * Maybe just for US pairs? Thoughs?
 
Last edited:

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
I don't care who else does Bolero, why, or how many medals they win.

It's Torvill & Dean's, period. Others may skate to it, but when they do, T&D is all I see.
 
Last edited:

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
Is their any music that is so iconic to a single skater or team that you fell shouldn't be used? I don't believe in baning music but it may be hard for other skaters to interrupt it well since its heavely associated with a particular skater/team.

Example Lyra Angelica ( Michelle Kwan)
Rhapsody on a them of Paganini for pairs (Ina and Zimmerman). * Maybe just for US pairs? Thoughs?

No. Any and all music is up for grabs.

Now, there is certain music that I associate with skaters. I've never seen another Bolt after Artur did it so wonderfully and for me it is the standard. The same with Schindler's List - Joshua set a standard that no-one else ever has or ever will get close to. Riverdance and Tron also have the same associations in my head.

But if at some future time, someone whips out a new Tron program, or has a crack at Schindler's List, or Riverdance...they should be allowed to. I don't believe in banning music just because someone skated really well to it, that's just stupid.
 
Last edited:

4everchan

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 7, 2015
Country
Martinique
i don't disagree with you but it's not TD's it's Ravel's :)

when it comes to classical music, and such a masterpiece as Bolero.... it's tricky.... one end of the spectrum, I tend to agree that there are a few and I AM INSISTING on a FEW magical performances that should end the run of a masterpiece... Bolero is one of them, and perhaps the only one.

on the other end of the spectrum, music doesn't live when it's not performed... and I'd prefer that some masterpieces get over utilized than getting a bunch of elevator music just because performers are afraid to use music that's been used brilliantly before.

hope i make sense because it's clear in my head but it's near bedtime ;)

I don't care who else does Bolero, why, or how many medals they win.

It's Torvill & Dean's, period. Others may skate to it, but when they do, T&D is all I see.
 

Skate2Music

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
I never said I wanted to ban any music, I said it may be more difficult to have an effective program if it strongly associated with an iconic program.
 

Imagine

Medalist
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
I don't necessarily agree that the music should never be skated to again, but I think there certainly are programs that are iconic and difficult (if not impossible) to top. These programs will always be associated with those who performed them the most memorably. For example, James Bond and Danse Macabre will always be associated with Kim Yuna. Even amongst those who don't care about skating and only watched the 2010 Olympics because well, it's the Olympics and only happens every 4 years, people will remember Yuna's performance. Same with Yulia Lipnitskaya's Schindler's List, which has become one of the lasting images to come out of the Olympics...garnering worldwide acclaim and even the praise of Spielberg himself. When I see other skaters doing programs to these pieces, I think hmmm, will I remember this performance a day, or even an hour from now? The answer is always nope! They might be good programs, but will ultimately be forgotten with time. I mean, Mirai Nagasu had a nice Bond program at some point, and this year Tyler Pierce did a decent Danse Macabre...but my first thought was to compare them to Yuna and ask did they do a better job? I dont think so.

Others iconic programs I can think of are Sasha Cohen's Dark Eyes, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, and Malagueña, Mao's Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2, and Arakawa Shizuka's Turandot...though these are more commonly used musical selections, so I don't think the skater in these cases "own" the program per se.
 

MaxSwagg

Match Penalty
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
No. Any and all music is up for grabs.

Now, there is certain music that I associate with skaters. I've never seen another Bolt after Artur did it so wonderfully and for me it is the standard. The same with Schindler's List - Joshua set a standard that no-one else ever has or ever will get close to. Riverdance and Tron also have the same associations in my head.

But if at some future time, someone whips out a new Tron program, or has a crack at Schindler's List, or Riverdance...they should be allowed to. I don't believe in banning music just because someone skated really well to it, that's just stupid.

It's Julia's...
 

Amei

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 11, 2013
Swan Lake - Sasha Cohen's, no one could do it as well as she did.
 

Perdita

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 15, 2014
But aren't most of the music choices difficult to begin with since skaters normally choose to skate to a masterpiece music, ballet, musical, film etc.? I think, skating to Riverdance sets up a high bar not so much because of some iconic FS programmes done in the past (and actually it's hard to say which is the iconic Riverdance programme in FS), but because the original Riverdance production is fabulous. I love Carolina's Bolero not in comparison with T/D's but because it dared to challenge Maurice Bejart's masterpiece.
 
Last edited:

Globetrotter

Medalist
Joined
Jan 17, 2014
To me it is not the music but really the skater that defines how iconic the piece gets. Yahudin's Winter will be a tough challenge to mount. For the ladies, I find that Maria Butyrskaya has some of the most difficult pieces for other ladies to interpret. The toughest and most iconic would be her 2001/1 SP Scène d'Amour. It takes a very mature lady with that unique feminine X factor to be able to carry that off. Same for her LP music 17 moments in spring. I don't think anyone had ever attempted them after her anyway.
 

noskates

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
Love Story - Sale and Pelletier
Lyra Angelica - Michelle Kwan
Schindler's List - Yulia
Alexei Yagudin - Winter and Man in the Iron Mask
Torvill and Dean - Bolero (did NOT like Kostner's version)

Just to name a few
 

FSGMT

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
After 2012 I can't hear Mozart's Piano Concerto 22 without thinking of Carolina. Even when Papdakis and Cizeron used it and even if their program was magnificent I couldn't avoid seeing Caro winning worlds each and every time :love:
 

plushyfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Country
Hungary
Schindler list- Julia
Swan lake- Oksana Baiul
Bolero-T/D
Winter-Yagudin
Carmen-Katarina Witt
 
Last edited:

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
It's Julia's...

Oh please. You can't have an iconic program where you effectively ignore the music the whole four minutes and rely on the imagery of the little girl in the red coat...

Joshua's, on the other hand, was a beautifully, delicately woven spell of emotions, absolutely exquisite, touching every moment of the music...
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Oh, this is a topic that I can totally relate to! :agree:

There are a number of pieces that any time somebody does a programme to them, all I can see is a programme by somebody else.

With "Bolero", it is Torvill and Dean that I see.
With "Tango Amore", it is Plushenko that I see.

There is also a piece that any time I hear it, I see Brian Joubert. But I haven't a clue what it is called!

And there are so many pieces that when I hear it, I think of when Mao Asada used it.

Because they were so quirky, every piece of music that was used by Zhiganshina / Gazsi automatically became "theirs". Since they did their "Zombie Dance" programme, I have seen 2 programmes that have used the same music. And I hated them. Admittedly, with one of them it wasn't helped by the fact that the Pairs couple using it were not very good skaters. But the other was by Medvedeva!

But, although I may think of a particular skater's programme when I hear a particular piece, I don't think it should mean that nobody else attempts it

When I saw Ilinykh / Katsalapov doing "Schindler's List", I thought it was the definitive version. But then Lipnitskaya came along with her version. And she just blew everybody else out of the water. So now any time somebody uses it, all I see is Julia.

So, this shows that, even though you might think one version is the definitive version, another might come along which turns out to be better.

And then there is the complicating factor of having a piece where there are multiple programmes that come into your mind. This is what happens to me with medleys of songs from the film "Burlesque". I would consider the rotuines by Adelina Sotnikova and Akiko Suzuki to both be the definitive version.

Amei mentioned "Swan Lake". Admittedly, I haven't seen Sasha's version, so I don't know what it was like. BUT, what I will say is that whenever it gets to a certain part of the music, all I can see is Katsalapov lifting Ilinykh (in their 2013/14 Free Dance). That is definitely an iconic moment. But I am not sure I would go as far as to say that their's was the definitive programme.

Now, maybe this doesn't count, because I haven't seen anybody else do a programme to it. And maybe it is because she is a lot prettier than the singer (not hard when you are comparing a beautiful young Russian girl to a bloke in drag!) But, every time I hear "Rise Like A Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst, I see Anna Pogorilaya's Gala programme. As I say, I don't know if it is the definitive programme for that song, because I haven't seen anybody else use it. But, for me, it is the definitive programme for Anna. This programme is the first thing that comes into my mind when I think of Anna Pogorilaya.

It is the same with Liza Tuktamysheva's Free Skate and Gala programmes from last season. I haven't seen anybody else using the music from either of those programmes, but I know that if I do, Liza will be all I see. Because, for me, those are the 2 best programmes of her career.

CaroLiza_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
After 2012 I can't hear Mozart's Piano Concerto 22 without thinking of Carolina. Even when Papdakis and Cizeron used it and even if their program was magnificent I couldn't avoid seeing Caro winning worlds each and every time :love:

Oh, you mentioning them reminded me of something I forgot to include in my earlier post.

Any time I hear "Take Me To Church" by Hozier, all I can think of is Papadakis / Cizeron. Admittedly, that might be because I hadn't heard the song before I saw them skating to it. (Ironic, given that the singer is Irish!)

Like Zhiganshina / Gazsi and their "Zombie Dance" programme, I have since seen somebody else do a programme using this song, and I didn't like it. But, like Anna Pogo and "Rise Like A Phoenix", I do think this is the definitive programme for Gabriella and Guillaume.

CaroLiza_fan
 
Last edited:

ioanna

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Daisuke Takahashi's La Strada, Blues for Klook, Bachelorette (if EX programs count)
Yuzuru Hanyu's Romeo & Juliet movie soundtrack, Parisienne Walkways, Seimei
Tatsuki Machida's Firebird, Symphony no 9 and self choreographed programs
Mao Asada's Vancouver and Sochi programs, So Deep Is The Night
Akiko Suzuki's O
Kanako Murakami's Violin Muse
Satoko Miyahara's Miss Saigon, Let Her Go
Takahiko Kozuka's Bold As Love, Exodus, Free Fallin', The Sound of Silence
Yuna Kim's Danse Macabre, Vancouver and Sochi programs, Homage to Korea
 

jenaj

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Country
United-States
If iconic means strongly associated with one skater/skating pair, here are a few:
Michelle Kwan: East of Eden
Janet Lynn: Afternoon of a Faun
Torvill/Dean: Bolero
Sasha Cohen: Romeo and Juliet

These are pieces that the skaters have used multiple times-in exhibitions as well as competitive programs-- and that have become kind of like signature pieces for them. I don't think warhorses like Rach 2, Danse Macabre, Swan Lake etc. can count as iconic to any one skater/skating pair unless the skater has sort of adopted it as their own--and so far none has. I wouldn't be surprised to see Moulin Rouge become iconic for Ashley Wagner.

ETA: Re Swan Lake: I would say it's iconic as to Oksana Baiul.
 
Last edited:
Top