Non-Classical Themes That Win

CanadianSkaterGuy · May 26, 2015

I noticed that Liza winning Worlds with a Middle Eastern freeskate theme is rather uncommon - Meissner and Kwan come to mind as others who have done that.

It seems most freeskates that win are classical music (probably which is why most skaters tend to use those for their FS), but what are some examples of your favourite programs (FS only, since many skaters do non-classical SPs) that have won or medalled at Olympics/Worlds which aren't considered typical "classical" music?

Also curious about how often "non-classical" programs win, or how well they stack up.

andromache · May 26, 2015

Can you be a little more specific about what is considered "classical"? I know nothing about music, so I really have no idea. Are tracks from films and musicals classical? Sorry if that is a stupid question

.

CanadianSkaterGuy · May 26, 2015

Well it's a bit subjective but I'd say classical music includes Western art music that was created from anywhere from the Baroque era (starting in the 1600's) up until more "modern" classical music (up to around the 1930's, like Bolero). It's a bit of a gray area, because something like a tango is still classical music and something like Scheherazade is clearly Middle-Eastern inspired but not quite Middle Eastern music = Rachmaninoff, Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, Schubert, Ravel, Puccini. I tend to think "orchestral" when it comes to classical music.

Tracks from films and musicals are also a bit of a gray area, because some are very "classical" in their nature (like Phantom of the Opera, Les Miz), but then you get more modern arrangements, like Tonya Harding's Jurassic Park/Batman or Elvis Stojko's Dragon.

matmuh · May 26, 2015

Denis's FS this season and Takahashi's Blues for Klook (not sure it counts as classic or not :biggrin:

) comes to my mind

silverfoxes · May 26, 2015

The Matrix served Brian Joubert fairly well...so much that he kept bringing it back.

I thought about his "Unforgiven" program as well, but it was Apocalyptica's string version of Metallica, so I don't know where you would place that. Also Javier had Peter Gunn & Charlie Chaplin.

cruzceleste · May 26, 2015

Yuzuru´s Parisian Walkways

Sam-Skwantch · May 26, 2015

I don't really consider orchestral movie scores to be "classical". In that case Yagudin's Man In The Iron Mask was a successful non-classical venture.

http://youtu.be/K6zeIUH3rHg

dorispulaski · May 26, 2015

Film soundtracks often score well.

Butyrskaya and others with Otonal and Seven Minutes in Spring
Todd Eldredge won Worlds with the First Knight soundtrack.
Schindler's List soundtrack won many a competition for Julia Lipnitskaia and Ilinykh & Zhiganshin as Juniors.
The Piano soundtrack finally won worlds for Delobel and Schoenfelder
and so forth. Lots of soundtracks.
Lawrence of Arabia was a winner for Klimova and Ponomarenko.
Davis and White won with El Postino.
Umbrellas of Cherbourg has been used sucessfully, as has Dr. Zhivago.

Musicals do better than one might think.

Katarina Witt won with Sound of Music and Caberet.
Virtue & Moir won with Funny Face.
Torville & Dean won with Barnum and Mack and Mabel and Fame.

Folk songs occasionally do well. They worked for Rodnina & Zaitsev and Bestemianova & Bukin

Would you cal Irina Slutskaya's winning 2005 program.to.Croatian Rhapsody
by Maksim Mrvica; Whisper From the Mirror by Keiko Matsui; Wonderland by Tonči Huljić, performed by Maksim Mrvica, classical?

ribbit · May 26, 2015

Broadway musicals are usually considered "popular" rather than "classical" music, though I agree with CanadianSkaterGuy that shows with operatic aspirations like Phantom or Les Mis fall into a grey area. Off the top of my head, Torvill and Dean's "Mack and Mabel" (1981-82) and "Barnum" (1982-83) come to mind, as does Oksana Baiul's Broadway medley in 1994. But it's harder to think of Broadway-style programs from more recent years; Phantom, Les Mis, and Miss Saigon all sound fairly classically-influenced without lyrics. V/T's Jesus Christ Superstar, to me, has moments in which you can hear a late-60s rock sound, but mostly it sounds "classical".

Jumping over to the world of folk/traditional music (which has often been contrasted, perhaps falsely, with the kind of "art music" that we usually label "classical"), what about Jason Brown's Riverdance? Not a medal-winning program, as the OP asked about, but very well-received by the judges, especially in terms of PCS. And weren't S/K criticized for skating to "The Addams Family" at Sochi, precisely because it was a fun, quirky music choice? IIRC, some commentators thought it wasn't a serious enough choice for an Olympic-year free skate.

Given the criticism that S/K took, it would be interesting to go back further and see if it used to be more common for Broadway, big-band, or other popular dance programs to win medals (or to exist in the first place). If I had to guess, I would guess that there are actually more programs choreographed to music that you wouldn't hear at Carnegie Hall outside a pops program (film scores, pop/rock operas a la Phantom), but less...sonic diversity? The music being chosen from non-classical sources sounds more classical than past non-classical programs did, so we have an equally if not more diverse range of music sources but a less diverse listening experience.

ETA: I was writing this as Doris posted T&D's programs, so I didn't see her much more thorough response!

Lenny318 · May 26, 2015

Michael Weiss won bronze at worlds in 1999 with a free skate to Mulan

katmari · May 26, 2015

Robin Cousins 1980 Olympic Free Program

The central slow section to Murder on the Orient Express fits the classical theme. The rest of the program is definitely of it's time though with the disco beats (What's the Meco version of Superman doing in there? :laugh:

) and Paint it Black to finish it off.

charmblade · May 26, 2015

D/R just won Worlds with Muse.

Ice Dance · May 26, 2015

I think all cultures have their own classical music. (Denis's music, Ambush From Ten Sides, from this year is described as Chinese classical music on Wikipedia). But as you said, it's a gray area.

Using your definition above, I think it's actually fairly common in ice dance.

Grishuk & Platov won Worlds/Olympics with Rock Around the Clock (medley), a Latin medley (lots of pieces), Fred & Ginger, Arabian Passion/The Feeling Begins, and Memorial Requiem. Not sure if any of those fall in your definition of classical.

Usova & Zhulin won 93 Worlds with Blues for Klook.

Isabel & Paul Duchesnay skated to music from Panpipes of the Andes for their Missing freeskates.

Fusar-Poli & Margaglio won with the soundtrack to the Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film version of Romeo & Juliet.

Anissina & Peizerat medaled with Man in the Iron Mask. (And, of course, Yagudin won the Olympics with it soon after).

Davis & White won with the soundtrack to Il Postino.

I'm a fan of all of the above.

A couple I am not a fan of:
The Pink Panther by Navka & Kostomarov.
African Drums by Krylova & Ovsyannikov

sunnystars · May 26, 2015

Yuna's Homage to Korea
Dai's Garden of Souls
Yu/Jin's Yulunga and their LP music
Taka's Exodus
Stol/Klim's Mortal Kombat

Watermelondrea · May 26, 2015

andromache said:
Can you be a little more specific about what is considered "classical"? I know nothing about music, so I really have no idea. Are tracks from films and musicals classical? Sorry if that is a stupid question .

I think the author means like non warhorse programs

AsadaFanBoy · May 26, 2015

Wagner did Led Zeppelin =)

Blades of Passion · May 26, 2015

AsadaFanBoy said:
Wagner did Led Zeppelin =)

The thread title is music that wins, though?

Pepe Nero · May 27, 2015

I'd have to say my favorite example is Tonya Harding's 1991 US Nationals win with Tone Loc's "Wild Thing." Sure, this was the music of only the last third or so of her free skate, but she also won the World silver with it.

Sorry, this one can't be beat.

iluvtodd · May 27, 2015

Elvis won 1994 Worlds with "Dragon - The Bruce Lee Story" and 1995 Worlds with "1492."

Alexei Y. won 1999 Worlds with "Lawrence of Arabia."

uhh · May 27, 2015

Javi winning with Black Betty

Joubert won world medals skating to Safri Duo, Apocalyptica, & music from James Bond and The Matrix. V/T did OK with their Evanesence SP.

There's also skaters doing well with "classical" music that's still not an obvious choice for skating, or with much more interesting choreo than you would expect for the music choice. Kostner's programs in 2011-12 are the best example of this - she used Shostakovich and Mozart, but her interpretation was new, modern dance inspired and challenging to the viewer & she won GPF & Worlds with those programs

Non-Classical Themes That Win

CanadianSkaterGuy

andromache

CanadianSkaterGuy

matmuh

what are levels anyway

silverfoxes

cruzceleste

Sam-Skwantch

“I solemnly swear I’m up to no good”

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl

ribbit

Lenny318

katmari

charmblade

Ice Dance

sunnystars

#teamotherskaters

Watermelondrea

AsadaFanBoy

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be

Pepe Nero

iluvtodd

uhh

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