This or that... skating programs

This time though, the choices are between programs by the same skaters.

G/G: 1988 LP or 1994 Moonlight Sonata?

M/D: 1992 Liebestraume or 1994 Rachmanioff 2nd?

S/P: Tristan & Isodore or Love Story 2002?

B/S: Chaplin 2001 or Medi 2002?

MK: Lyra or 2003 LP-the name escaped me?

Lu Chen: Rach 2nd or Butterfly Lovers.?

Feel free to add skaters to the list. I tried to pick the two strongest, or biggest fan based programs by some of the skaters.

G/G's 1994 Moonlight Sonata, I love it's subtley so much.

M/D's 1994 Rachmanioff 2nd...just excellent...to me was very innovative.

S/P's Tristan & Isolde is much much better than Love Story...a lot of programs are better than Love Story, IMO.

B/S's Chaplin 2001 or Medi 2002? Hard one! I can't pick one, sorry.

MK's Lyra Angelica is better based on choreography, but Aranjuez is great based on Michelle's new found fire power in the performances.

Lu Chen's Rach 2nd was a stronger and better program than Butterfly Lovers. Butterfly Lovers is still special with me because Lu Chen had her most heart felt performance with it.

I'll think of more later.

VIETgrlTerifa said:

MK's Lyra Angelica is better based on choreography, but Aranjuez is great based on Michelle's new found fire power in the performances.

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May be this is the reason. I like more of the performances and fire power than the choreography.

The 98 Nats Lyra Angelica never rated at the higher list from Michelle for me. But Aranjuez definitely is the top LP from Michelle for me.

1. G&G: Definitely "Moonlight Sonata" from Lillehammer. They were far more mature and their off-ice bliss helped infuse this performance with such genuine and romantic chemistry.

2. M&D: Tough one. Their 1992 Olympic LP was truly elegant and wonderful to see. I'd probably have to go with Rach from 1994 though. It had great tension and drama and the technical elements were flawless.

3. S&P: Love Story

4. B&S: Definitely "Medi". The music is incredible and fit their style perfectly.

5. Michelle: REALLY tough! I'd probably have to go with Lyra. The choreography was so difficult and intricate and flowed so well throughout. "Aranjuez" was incredible also, but by a 5/4 split panel gets my second place vote.

6. Chen Lu: Rach without question. "Butterfly Lovers" was wonderful, but it didn't leave me with the same feeling. I think "Rach" is the far more superior program.

G/G: 1988 LP or 1994 Moonlight Sonata? I would choose Moonlight Sonata. A beautiful, mature program for a beautiful couple.

M/D: 1992 Liebestraume or 1994 Rachmanioff 2nd? Definitely Rachmaninoff. So powerful and dramatic.

S/P: Tristan & Isodore or Love Story 2002? Tristan & Isadore. Didn't understand all the hype about Love Story.

B/S: Chaplin 2001 or Medi 2002? Medi. Beautiful program

MK: Lyra or 2003 LP-the name escaped me? Can't pick between them. They were both beautiful.

Lu Chen: Rach 2nd or Butterfly Lovers.? Rach 2nd.

I wish I had some of these on tape so I could watch them again. :\

Irina: Broadway Medley or Carmen

MK: Salome or Lyra

Boitano: Carosel Waltz or Nussum Dorma

Yags: Carmen or Tosca

Bobeck: Dr. Zivago or Giselle

Guzmerolli: Circus or Legends of the Fall

Urmanov: Swan Lake or Princess of the Circus

Irina: Broadway Medley or Carmen

Carmen. I think that's my favorite program of hers


MK: Salome or Lyra

Salome.


Boitano: Carosel Waltz or Nussum Dorma

Nussum Dorma


Yags: Carmen or Tosca

Tosca


Bobeck: Dr. Zivago or Giselle

Dr. Zhivago (just an excellently constructed LP. great job Renee)


Guzmerolli: Circus or Legends of the Fall

Legends of the Fall


Urmanov: Swan Lake or Princess of the Circus

Princess of the Circus

This is tough. Hummm

G/G: 1988 LP or 1994 Moonlight Sonata?

I'm gonna say 94 because it was so much more mature and it jelled better.

M/D: 1992 Liebestraume or 1994 Rachmanioff 2nd?

Both were great, but somehow Liebestraume was more special to me, sort of like a signature peice. Rach was another good program to Rach, but not a signature peice IMO.

S/P: Tristan & Isodore or Love Story 2002?

Well, I just couldn't get past the awful green outfits of T&I. Shallow aren't I? Again, it was nice but not a signature peice that they now "own" like LS. One may love or hate story telling programs, but LS was story telling at it's best.

B/S: Chaplin 2001 or Medi 2002?

Good as Medi was, it was safe. So lyrical, for famously lyrical skaters during an Oly year. Chaplin wins my vote for it's origionality alone. It's hard to put something like that to skating, and they did it beautifully.

MK: Lyra or 2003 LP-the name escaped me?

This is the only one I am 100% on. Performance wise, Lyra at 98 nats was perfection. As a program, it had much more interesting things going on. Aranjuez is a little bare IMHO. Plus Lyra was a big departure stylistically from Salome and Taj. I don't see Aranjuez as radically different from SOTBS or Schez. IMHO, her rebirth this season is greatly exagerated. She was uncharacteristically off the 02 season and back the 03 season. Much better performnce wise, but stylisticlly, nothing new.

Lu Chen: Rach 2nd or Butterfly Lovers.?

BL was more individual, or personal, but I'm gonna give the edge to Rach. As a lyrical piece, it was perfection.

It usually depends on what kind of mood I'm in-sometimes I like the lyrical, subtle programs, other times I prefer the high energy programs-but I actually like G&G's 1988 LP better.

1994 was wonderfully elegant, and I like it more than I thought I would. 1988 was just a technically perfect LP, they had so much energy in the program. It just seemed as if 1988 had a lot of "joy" in it. Sorry for sounding sappy

Okay, I'll play:

G/G: 1988 LP or 1994 Moonlight Sonata? Moonlight Sonata

M/D: 1992 Liebestraume or 1994 Rachmanioff 2nd? Rachmanioff

S/P: Tristan & Isodore or Love Story 2002? Love Story--even though I really wish they'd used Orchid at the 2002 Olympics!

B/S: Chaplin 2001 or Medi 2002? Chaplin

MK: Lyra or 2003 LP-the name escaped me? Lyra--even though Michelle skated Aranjuez brilliantly at 2003 Worlds, I still think Lyra was a better program in terms of in-between moves

Lu Chen: Rach 2nd or Butterfly Lovers.? Rach (although I loved her Last Emperor program best of all)

Irina: Broadway Medley or Carmen? Carmen

MK: Salome or Lyra? Still Lyra

Boitano: Carosel Waltz or Nussum Dorma? I honestly can't decide...

Yags: Carmen or Tosca? Tosca (mainly because I can't remember when he skated to Carmen!)

Bobeck: Dr. Zivago or Giselle? Dr. Zhivago

Guzmerolli: Circus or Legends of the Fall? Legends of the Fall

Urmanov: Swan Lake or Princess of the Circus? Swan Lake

G/G: 1988 LP or 1994 Moonlight Sonata? Moonlight Sonata. The cool classicism of the choreography and the performance was in complete harmony with the music, and the implicit trust between them and his support of her that reflected the "push" of the music are, to me, the ultimate romanticism.

M/D: 1992 Liebestraume or 1994 Rachmanioff 2nd? Rach, by a hair. I loved the tension in Liebestraum, although I hate the music and the two "flexibility" moves at the end -- her butt-in-the-air and backbend crotch shot spread eagles, both of which which I found vulgar. Rach had less tension between them, which I liked less, but the program on the whole was quite beautiful.

S/P: Tristan & Isodore or Love Story 2002? Love Story, by far. It's the difference between a "classic" program done well enough, and a fluff piece perfectly formed to the skaters and perfectly performed.

To mix some metaphors, not every piece can be Swan Lake or Agon or Tristan und Isolde, which are choreographically/musically superior -- more "high" art -- but are performed less well too often for comfort. Sometimes a beautifully performed Coppelia or Merry Widow can make a wonderful diet of champagne and strawberries; not everything has to be steak.

B/S: Chaplin 2001 or Medi 2002? Neither. I would choose Chaplin 2002, in the definitive performance they gave at Cup of Russia, which, in my opinion, was one of the greatest pairs performances of all time. I thought Medi had beautiful choreography to gorgeous music, except for the rollover lift, where Berezhnaia started bent over with her butt in the air, which marred the image for me. However, I thought that while B&S consistently performed beautifully when they were flying, I never once saw a performance that I didn't think was broken by execution of the slower parts and transitions into them, especially in and out of the pairs spin. If I had to choose between the two, I'd say Chaplin 2001, because, it was so original and unusual and cool, and quite brave of them to use.

MK: Lyra or 2003 LP-the name escaped me? I think the choregraphy for Lyra was quite a bit stronger, but that when a skater has a programatic "back story" -- i.e., to show how much she loves the freedom and movement in skating -- s/he sets herself up for a fall: it's not possible to perform the program to that level of flight each time. I think Aranjuez had the changes of speed and intensity, as well as a bit of character, that made Kwan appear far more free in this program than in Lyra.

Lu Chen: Rach 2nd or Butterfly Lovers.? Rach 2nd, by a hair, because of execution, which was superb. I'm not among those who love this program, because I felt that the choreography fought the music at times, which broke the tension for me.

Guys, it's Tristan and ISOLDE! And the Liebestod that S&P skated to is one of the great romantic pieces of all time.

euterpe said:

Guys, it's Tristan and ISOLDE! And the Liebestod that S&P skated to is one of the great romantic pieces of all time.

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I just don't see S&P as Tristan and Isolde. I see S&P as Jennie and Preppie.

this or that...I can't choose

Lu Chen- Rach #2 or butterfly lovers??? But may be Rach #2 by a millimeter. And I mean just a millimeter.

Michelle- Lyra or Aranjuez.... Both for different reasons

Tara- Much ado about nothing or Rainbow? Rainbow by a landslide

Sasha- Carmen or Rach #2...humm Carmen for perfromance quilty but Rach #2 for better program constuction.

Nichole Bobeck- Dr. Zhivago or Giselle? HARD one but I'd say Dr. Zhivago

Maria-Otonol or 17 moments? 17 Moments of course

Maria B.- Otonol or Swan lake...Otonol

Maria B-Swan lake or Malaguena....Maleguena, can you tell I'm down on her Swan lake program.

AP- R&J or Madame Butterfly....R&J fo' sure

What comes to mind is ...

1. Salome--MK
2. Swan Lake--Okasana B
3. Medi-B/S

S/P: Tristan & Isodore or Love Story 2002?


It's "Tristan & Isolde" by Wagner. I loved both programs.

I know now.

Oh, well I like the sound of "Tristan & Isodore" better

*G/G: 1988 LP or 1994 Moonlight Sonata?*
1994 Moonlight Sonata.

*M/D: 1992 Liebestraume or 1994 Rachmanioff 2nd?*
Both were beautiful, but I'd probably go for Rachmaninov in 1994.

*S/P: Tristan & Isodore or Love Story 2002?*
Tristan & Isolde.

*B/S: Chaplin 2001 or Medi 2002?*
Both! lol. I can't decide between them.

*MK: Lyra or 2003 LP-the name escaped me?*
Hmm. Neither are my favourite of hers. Probably Aranjuez, I guess.

*Lu Chen: Rach 2nd or Butterfly Lovers?*
Probably Rachmaninov, but I haven't watched them for a while.

*Irina: Broadway Medley or Carmen*
Carmen. But my favourite LP of hers was Don Quioxte.

*MK: Salome or Lyra*
Salome, easy.

*Guzmerolli: Circus or Legends of the Fall*
I haven't seen the Circus one but I love Legends of the Fall.

*Sasha- Carmen or Rach #2*
Carmen probably. I didn't really like her Rach one this year, but each time I watched it I liked it a little more. Maybe it's one of those that grows on you.

*Maria B.- Otonol or Swan lake...Otonol*

I like both but probably Otonal.


Some more:
*Plushenko - Carmen or St Petersburg 300?*
I'd go for St. Petersburg 300.

*Bourne & Kraatz - MJ Medley or Adagio?*
I would have said MJ, but Adagio has also grown on me a lot. I might even say that one now.

*Mishkutenok & Dmitriev or Kazakova & Dmitriev?*
I'd say M&D.