I have had it up to here with skating programs set to the music of Carmen. How many Carmens can we (skate fans) take? How many times have we seen it before?
Scott Moir said that there is only so much music that skaters can skate to before they (inevitably) use Carmen. That’s only true if you set all your programs to the Skate music classic CD, which contains only two selections, Carmen and Swan Lake.
I can’t believe that skaters believe that there is no other music to skate to.
Mozart wrote twenty-seven piano concerti. Carolina Kostner skated (superbly) to one of them last season. What about the other twenty-six? What about Don Giovanni, the Marriage of Figaro, the Magic Flute, the Clarinet Concerto, the Concerto for Flute and Harp, the violin concerti, the four horn concerti…and that’s just Mozart.
Beethoven wrote 5 beautiful piano concerti that skaters never skate to, a superb violin concerto, a triple concerto and 31 gorgeous piano sonatas (if you leave out the overused “Moonlight”).
Have skaters ever heard of Carl Maria Von Weber? He wrote gorgeous music for his operas “Der Freischutz,” “Oberon,” and “Euryanthe,” just to name a few of his compositions that would be perfect for skating.
What about the brilliant music of Robert Schumann? When was the last time (or the first time for that matter) that a skater chose to skate to his piano concerto, his four symphonies, or one of his delightful piano miniatures from the “Carnaval,” “Kinderszenen” or “Kreisleriana” cycles?
Have skaters ever heard of Hector Berlioz? I have never heard a skater skate to selections from the “Symphonie Fantastique” or any of his lovely operas and oratorios.
Skaters overuse Mendelssohn’s violin concerto but appear to be totally ignorant of his gorgeous symphonies, his “songs without words,” his wonderful overtures and incidental music such as “Midsummer Nights Dream.”
Why has no skater ever chosen to skate to the music of Johannes Brahms? It’s sinfully beautiful…the four symphonies, the two piano concerti, the violin concerto, the piano quintet, piano quartets, piano trios and so many songs. It’s some of the most beautiful music ever written, yet skaters seem entirely oblivious to it.
Speaking of songs, no one wrote more songs of such infinite quality as Franz Schubert and yet skaters rarely if ever chose to skate to any of these. Moreover, Schubert wrote some really amazing and beautiful piano pieces but skaters seem ignorant of these too.
Ravel wrote a lot more than just the overused Bolero. Skaters please listen to his piano concerti and ballet music.
Rachmaninov’s 2nd and 3rd piano concerto are done to death but skaters always ignore his 1st and 4th piano concerti, which both contain many beauties and would make delightful skating music.
Moreover, Saint-Saens wrote five piano concerti that are equally fine yet skaters appear totally ignorant of the fact.
Waldteufel wrote a fine waltz for and about skaters called “Les Patineurs’ and many others besides but skaters seem unaware of any of them.
Skaters have clearly heard of “Tosca” and “Madame Butterfly” but Puccini wrote many other fine operas like Turandot, Manon Lescaut and La Boheme that skaters rarely use.
Moreover Puccini’s compatriot, Verdi wrote so much fine music such as his Requiem Mass, Il Trovatore, Aida, Otello, Rigoletto and La Forza Del Destino (just to name a few fine compositions). Skaters rarely if ever skate to Verdi’s music.
Rossini was equally gifted and wrote much fine music that skaters always seem to overlook.
When was the last time that a skater used the music of Franz Joseph “Papa” Haydn? I have actually never heard a skater skate to Haydn. He wrote 104 beautiful symphonies, piano concerti, cello concerti, horn concerti, trumpet concerti, a great body of piano trios, beautiful string quartets, piano music and countless masses, oratorios and operas. Surely such a large canon of work should provide a wealth of skating music (yet Scott Moir and his choreographer seem unaware of this).
Scott Moir beautifully interpreted Mahler’s (underused) Adagietto from the Symphony No. 5 but there are four more movements in that symphony and nine other symphonies that skaters never use.
I can go on and on and on this way but the point is that there is more music out there than just Carmen and Swan Lake It’s easy to just always fall back to these two pieces of music, these two chestnuts from the Skate classics CD but it’s lazy and I for one am tired of hearing the same music over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Get another CD please.
If nothing else the ISU should ban Carmen for all eternity.
Scott Moir said that there is only so much music that skaters can skate to before they (inevitably) use Carmen. That’s only true if you set all your programs to the Skate music classic CD, which contains only two selections, Carmen and Swan Lake.
I can’t believe that skaters believe that there is no other music to skate to.
Mozart wrote twenty-seven piano concerti. Carolina Kostner skated (superbly) to one of them last season. What about the other twenty-six? What about Don Giovanni, the Marriage of Figaro, the Magic Flute, the Clarinet Concerto, the Concerto for Flute and Harp, the violin concerti, the four horn concerti…and that’s just Mozart.
Beethoven wrote 5 beautiful piano concerti that skaters never skate to, a superb violin concerto, a triple concerto and 31 gorgeous piano sonatas (if you leave out the overused “Moonlight”).
Have skaters ever heard of Carl Maria Von Weber? He wrote gorgeous music for his operas “Der Freischutz,” “Oberon,” and “Euryanthe,” just to name a few of his compositions that would be perfect for skating.
What about the brilliant music of Robert Schumann? When was the last time (or the first time for that matter) that a skater chose to skate to his piano concerto, his four symphonies, or one of his delightful piano miniatures from the “Carnaval,” “Kinderszenen” or “Kreisleriana” cycles?
Have skaters ever heard of Hector Berlioz? I have never heard a skater skate to selections from the “Symphonie Fantastique” or any of his lovely operas and oratorios.
Skaters overuse Mendelssohn’s violin concerto but appear to be totally ignorant of his gorgeous symphonies, his “songs without words,” his wonderful overtures and incidental music such as “Midsummer Nights Dream.”
Why has no skater ever chosen to skate to the music of Johannes Brahms? It’s sinfully beautiful…the four symphonies, the two piano concerti, the violin concerto, the piano quintet, piano quartets, piano trios and so many songs. It’s some of the most beautiful music ever written, yet skaters seem entirely oblivious to it.
Speaking of songs, no one wrote more songs of such infinite quality as Franz Schubert and yet skaters rarely if ever chose to skate to any of these. Moreover, Schubert wrote some really amazing and beautiful piano pieces but skaters seem ignorant of these too.
Ravel wrote a lot more than just the overused Bolero. Skaters please listen to his piano concerti and ballet music.
Rachmaninov’s 2nd and 3rd piano concerto are done to death but skaters always ignore his 1st and 4th piano concerti, which both contain many beauties and would make delightful skating music.
Moreover, Saint-Saens wrote five piano concerti that are equally fine yet skaters appear totally ignorant of the fact.
Waldteufel wrote a fine waltz for and about skaters called “Les Patineurs’ and many others besides but skaters seem unaware of any of them.
Skaters have clearly heard of “Tosca” and “Madame Butterfly” but Puccini wrote many other fine operas like Turandot, Manon Lescaut and La Boheme that skaters rarely use.
Moreover Puccini’s compatriot, Verdi wrote so much fine music such as his Requiem Mass, Il Trovatore, Aida, Otello, Rigoletto and La Forza Del Destino (just to name a few fine compositions). Skaters rarely if ever skate to Verdi’s music.
Rossini was equally gifted and wrote much fine music that skaters always seem to overlook.
When was the last time that a skater used the music of Franz Joseph “Papa” Haydn? I have actually never heard a skater skate to Haydn. He wrote 104 beautiful symphonies, piano concerti, cello concerti, horn concerti, trumpet concerti, a great body of piano trios, beautiful string quartets, piano music and countless masses, oratorios and operas. Surely such a large canon of work should provide a wealth of skating music (yet Scott Moir and his choreographer seem unaware of this).
Scott Moir beautifully interpreted Mahler’s (underused) Adagietto from the Symphony No. 5 but there are four more movements in that symphony and nine other symphonies that skaters never use.
I can go on and on and on this way but the point is that there is more music out there than just Carmen and Swan Lake It’s easy to just always fall back to these two pieces of music, these two chestnuts from the Skate classics CD but it’s lazy and I for one am tired of hearing the same music over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Get another CD please.
If nothing else the ISU should ban Carmen for all eternity.