Best skated war-horses?

pETEs (Sasha Fan)

pETEs (Sasha Fan)

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War-horses. The circular myth of figure skating. Which are, in your opinion, the best versions of each (Carmens, Swans, Firebirds, etc.)? And why? Feel free to share videos.
 
My selection:

*1492: Brian Joubert
*Ave Maria: Carolina Kostner
*Blues for Klook: Usova & Zhulin
*Bolero: Carolina Kostner
*Carmen: Illinykh & Zhinganshin
*Clair de Lune (Suite Bergamasque): Carolina Kostner
*Concierto de Aranjuez: Patrick Chan
*La Cumparsita: Christopher Bowman
*Don Quixote: John Curry
*The Dying Swan: Johnny Weir
*East of Eden: Michelle Kwan
*Exogenesis: Ashley Wagner
*The Feeling Begins: Grishuk & Platov
*Firebird: Toller Cranston
*Four Seasons (Winter): Surya Bonaly
*Hallelujah: Sasha Cohen
*Lawrence of Arabia: Yuka Sato
*Liebestraum: Mishkutionik & Dmitriev
*Madame Butterfly: Satoko Miyahara
*Malagueña: Sasha Cohen
*Moonlight Sonata: Papadakis & Cizeron
*Moulin Rouge!: -,-
*Otoñal: Maria Butyrskaya
*The red violin: Giada Russo
*Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2: Chen Lu
*Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.3: Michelle Kwan
*Riverdance: Bourne & Kraatz
*Romeo and Juliet (regardless of the version): Sasha Cohen
*Scheherazade: John Curry
*Schindler's List: Yulia Lipnitskaya
*Swan Lake: Oksana Baiul
*Tosca: Michelle Kwan
*Turandot: Shen & Zhao
 
Going with the list that @pETEs (Sasha Fan) used...

*1492: Anita Hartshorn and Frank Sweiding
*Ave Maria: Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov
*Blues for Klook: Maya Usova and Alexander Zhulin
*Bolero: Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean
*Carmen: Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir
*Clair de Lune: Charlene Wong
*Concierto de Aranjuez: Patrick Chan
*La Cumparsita: Kristi Yamaguchi
*Don Quixote: John Curry
*The Dying Swan: Oksana Baiul
*East of Eden: Michelle Kwan
*Exogenesis: Jeremy Abbott
*The Feeling Begins: Oksana Baiul
*Firebird: Toller Cranston
*Four Seasons (Winter): Maya Usova and Alexander Zhulin
*Hallelujah: Patrick Chan
*Lawrence of Arabia: Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko
*Liebestraum: Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov
*Madame Butterfly: Lea Ann Miller and Bill Fauver
*Malagueña: Maria Butyrskaya
*Moonlight Sonata: Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov
*Moulin Rouge!: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir
*Otoñal: Maria Butyrskaya
*The red violin: Michelle Kwan
*Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2: Robin Cousins
*Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3: Michelle Kwan
*Riverdance: Jason Brown
*Romeo and Juliet (regardless of version): Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin, Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat
*Scheherazade: John Curry
*Schindler's List: Katarina Witt, Paul Wylie
*Swan Lake: Rudy Galindo
*Tosca: Michelle Kwan
*Turandot: Brian Boitano

and adding a few more...

*Phantom Of The Opera: Robin Cousins, Brian Boitano, Dorothy Hamill (Music Of The Night)
*Man Of La Mancha: Liz Manley (The Impossible Dream)
*Les Miserables: Kurt Browning (Bring Him Home)
*Gone With The Wind: Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko
*Spartacus: Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko

If I had to give an award for the most UNIMAGINATIVE/annoying overused choices, I'd say Paint It Black, Who Wants To Live Forever? and West Side Story.
 
*Blues for Klook: Maya Usova and Alexander Zhulin
Click to expand...
Over Takahashi???? Not in my mind.

ETA NHK - 2011 Not the best technical performance, but the one where the camera work was the best. There are so few camera cuts that you can watch Takahashi build and perform the choreography. Whoever directed this broadcast has my thanks for a job well done.
 
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Carmen - Ladies - Fumie Suguri at 2005 Four Continents
Carmen - all disciplines - Bestemianova/Bukin 1985 Euros/Worlds

Romeo + Juliet - Ladies - Sasha Cohen 2006 Olympics
Romeo + Juliet - Ice Dance - Anissina/Peizerat 1998 Worlds

Don Quixote - John Curry

Dark Eyes - Sasha Cohen

My Sweet and Tender Beast - Anissina/Peizerat

Rachmaninoff No. 2 - Ladies - Lu Chen 1996 Worlds
Rachmaninoff No. 2 - Pairs - Mishkutionik & Dmitriev
Rachmaninoff No. 2 - Men - Daisuke Takahashi 2005-2006 Skate America

Otonal - Johnny Weir 2004 NHK (blasphemous I know but if I am true to myself, Weir's program overtakes Queen Butyrskaya's for me).

East of Eden - Michelle Kwan (Hon. Mention to Tatsuki Machida)

Liebestraum - Pairs - Mishkutionik & Dmitriev

The Red Violin - Michelle Kwan (esp. 1999 Skate America)

Coldplay (any piece) - Shibutani/Shibutani

Coppelia - Shibutani/Shibutani

Swan Lake - Oksana Baiul

Rachmaninoff No. 3 - Michelle Kwan

Muse (any piece) - Jeremy Abbott

Libertango - Grishuk/Platov

The Feeling Begins - Grishuk/Platov (Hon. Mention to Michelle Kwan)

Spartacus - Michelle Kwan

Vivaldi's Winter - Stephane Lambiel

Theme of Paganini - Ina/Zimmerman

Theme of Paganini (Andrew Lloyd Weber version) - Usova/Zhulin

Incantation music - The Duchesnays

To Build a Home (it's getting into warhorse territory) - Papadakis/Cizeron

Pink Floyd (any piece) - tied between Delobel/Schoenfelder and Virtue/Moir

The Piano soundtrack - Delobel/Schoenfelder (Hon. Mention to Jason Brown)

In the Hall of the Mountain King - Khokhlova/Novitski

Firebird - Khoklova/Novitski (I usually can't stand that music but they are entertaining with it)

Planets by Holst (any Planet) - Fumie Suguri

Beatles (any sort of medley) - Klimova/Ponomarenko (Hon. Mention to Daisuke Takahashi 2013-2014 LP)

Madame Butterfly - Mao Asada

Nessum Dorma/Turandot - Shen/Zhao no question.

Nutcracker - Shen/Zhao

Meditation of Thais - Shen/Zhao (yes even over Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze)

Chaplin (any music/movie) - Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze

Love Story - Sale/Pelletier (no matter what one thinks of them or that program out of all the Love Story programs this one is truly the most iconic to that music).

Gladiator - Alexei Yagudin

Moulin Rouge - Virtue/Moir

Maria de Buenos Aires (it's there now) - Weaver/Poje by far. Nobody else's comes close.

West Side Story - Akiko Suzuki

Die Fledermaus - Akiko Suzuki

Phantom of the Opera - Akiko Suzuki

Kill Bill (any pieces) - Akiko Suzuki
 
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Here's mine, heavily biased/weighted towards ladies

*1492: Chait/Sakhnovski. Awesome powerful FD.
*Ave Maria: Kostner
*Blues for Klook: Takahasi
*Bolero: Olga Markova
*Carmen: I want to say Butyrskaya, but I have to go with Witt. Too iconic.
*Concierto de Aranjuez: Kwan
*Don Quixote: Curry, I guess. Otherwise Zagitova.
*Exogenesis: Kerrs
*The Feeling Begins: Navka
*Four Season: Surya!
*Lawrence of Arabia: Lucinda Ruh
*Liebestraum: Mishkutionik & Dmitriev
*Madame Butterfly: Miyahara
*Malagueña: Sasha
*Moonlight Sonata: Papadakis & Cizeron
*Moulin Rouge!: Virtue/Moir
*Otoñal: Butyrskaya
*The red violin: Kwan
*Rach No. 2: Chen Lu
*Romeo and Juliet (regardless of the version): Anissina/Peizerat
*Scheherazade: Pogo
*Schindler's List: Lip
*Swan Lake: Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze. But honestly, I really love Sotnikova's from like 2008 when she was 12.
*Tosca: Slutskaya. Don't @ me.
*Turandot: Shen/Zhao
 
Some of the music mentioned here is not really warhorse music (e.g. Blues for Kloos, Otonal, and others)

My short list of warhorses:

Carmen - Witt, Plushenko

Don Quixote- John Curry, Irina Slutskaya

Malagueña- Kristi, Sasha

Swan Lake - Galindo, Berezhnaya-Sikharuldze, Oksana Baiul SP 1994

Romeo and Juliet (Nino Rota)- Sasha

Romeo and Juliet (Tchaikovsky)- Gordeeva Grinkov
Klimov a- Ponamarenko

Liebestraum - Kulik, mishkutenok-Dmitriev

The Nutcracker - Godeeva Grinkov

Turandot- Boitano

Phantom of the Opera- Urmanov

Schindler's list - Paul Wylie

Meditation from Thais- Berezhnaya-Sikharuludze, Oksana Baiul

Die Fledermaus- Gordeeva Grinkov

Tosca- Yagudin, Petrenko

West side story - Gordeeva Grinkov

Vivaldi' Four Seasons- Petrova Tikhanov

Masquerade waltz- Volosozhar Trankov and Krylova Ovssianikov

The Feeling begins - Grishchuk Platov

Rachmaninov 2- Takahashi, Mishkutenok-Dmitriev

Rachmaninov 3- Kwan, Ito
 
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I agree with @Vash01 some of these are not warhorses, like The red violin and Blues for klook. And it doesn't feel right to say "Coldplay-any piece", because any skater who uses a new piece I will hold no grudge against (and I'm for sure no Coldplay-fan). Of course we have heard Fix you++ a little too much, but Adam used O for his birds program, it was nothing warhorsey about it.

When does a piece of music become a warhorse? How many skaters must use it? Lots of people have used Big my secret from The piano, but it's not mentioned. Is it because they spread out well during the years. I don't see it used less then for instance Meditation or Pagliacci;)

My pick:
Rach 2- it was maybe not in the warhorse cathegory back then, but it's my favourite-Mishkutonok/Dmitriev
 
Not that it is exactly a warhorse, but in the 1980s, Slow Dancing In The Big City was a very popular choice.

Apparently, every second skater at the state and national level in Australia performed to it.

So, I was very excited when Karen Chen brought it back briefly, albeit, as one of her 5,000 different free skating program options last year.
 
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SmallFairy said:
I agree with @Vash01 some of these are not warhorses, like The red violin and Blues for klook. And it doesn't feel right to say "Coldplay-any piece", because any skater who uses a new piece I will hold no grudge against (and I'm for sure no Coldplay-fan). Of course we have heard Fix you++ a little too much, but Adam used O for his birds program, it was nothing warhorsey about it.

When does a piece of music become a warhorse? How many skaters must use it? Lots of people have used Big my secret from The piano, but it's not mentioned. Is it because they spread out well during the years. I don't see it used less then for instance Meditation or Pagliacci;)

My pick:
Rach 2- it was maybe not in the warhorse cathegory back then, but it's my favourite-Mishkutonok/Dmitriev
Click to expand...

To be me, if it becomes used more than like three or four times in less than like 5 seasons then it goes into warhorse territory or at least in the "overused" or "often used" category. "Otonal" is stretching it, but when you have the likes of Butryskaya introducing it and then Weir and Hanyu skating to it afterwards, then it's too notable for me to ignore. It may get out of warhorse territory if it becomes unused by "top" skaters or skaters I've personally seen for like a period of one and half to two Olympic cycles. However, if it's like a mainstay and is used like every four years then it becomes a warhorse. And I listed The Piano soundtrack. As for "Coldplay - any piece" I put that in there because a few skaters out there have started using it the way the Shibs used it, especially in ice dance, after their "Fix you" in the past two seasons. As for "O", you're right nobody else that I know of used it in a competitive skating, but Adam was the second notable skater to use it for me as the Shibs "O" exhibition that predated their "Fix You" FD was the program that inspired it all. It really depends on how many skaters you watch because that determines how many times you come across a skater using a piece. The likelihood of hearing some of the choices increases if you watch Juniors.
 
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^^^ What are your top 3.

Mine:

1. POTO (should be court ordered to never be used)
2. Carmen
3. R&J / Firebird / Four Seasons / Rhapsody In Blue / Moulin Rouge / West Side Snoozefest

(Sorry, no way to dwiddle it down to 3. lol)
 
Ave Maria: Carolina Kostner
Blues for Klook: Daisuke Takahashi
Bolero: Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean
Carmen: Natalia Bestemianova & Andrei Bukin
Concierto de Aranjuez: Patrick Chan
Don Quixote: John Curry
The Feeling Begins: Oksana Grishuk & Evgeni Platov
Firebird: Toller Cranston
Lawrence of Arabia: Marina Klimova & Sergei Ponomarenko
Liebestraum: Natalia Mishkutionik & Artur Dmitriev
Madame Butterfly: Jill Watson & Peter Oppergard
Malagueña: Sasha Cohen
Moonlight Sonata: Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron/Ekaterina Gordeeva & Sergei Grinkov
Moulin Rouge!: Yuna Kim
The Red Violin: Michelle Kwan
Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2: Lu Chen
Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.3: Midori Ito
Romeo and Juliet: Marina Anissina & Gwendel Peizerat
Scheherazade: Judy Blumberg & Michael Seibert
Tosca: Michelle Kwan
Turandot: Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao
 
Vagabond said:
Is Bolero actually a war horse?

Torvill & Dean's version scared everyone away from trying it for many years, and even now there aren't that many Free Dances to it.

Kostner's version seems to be having the same effect among the Ladies.
Click to expand...

What's crazy is that Torvill & Dean's former training partners, Regoczy & Sallay, skated to Bolero at the 1983 World Professional Figure Skating Championships in Landover, Maryland. The Hungarians' version was more Latin inspired, but I have no doubt that Jayne and Chris would have been aware of this performance.
 
essence_of_soy said:
What's crazy is that Torvill & Dean's former training partners, Regoczy & Sallay, skated to Bolero at the 1983 World Professional Figure Skating Championships in Landover, Maryland. The Hungarians' version was more Latin inspired, but I have no doubt that Jayne and Chris would have been aware of this performance.
Click to expand...

The 1983 World Pros would’ve most likely been towards the end of the calendar year in 1983, meaning they would’ve been skating to it at the same time. I see that Jayne and Chris did not compete until their Nationals that season, but I would imagine the program had been in the works months before debut. I’m sure someone else here knows the specifics.
 
Vagabond said:
Is Bolero actually a war horse?
Click to expand...

Only recently did many of us find out Petrenko started his ‘94 season with a Bolero short program. After that, I can only really think of Olga Markova (‘97- VERY good short), Alexander Abt, Louann Donovan, Michelle Kwan, Elena Liashenko, Chait/Sakhnovsky before both Kostner and Savchenko/Szolkowy used it in the same season. I’m sure there are many others but we had access to much fewer programs back then.
 
Tony Wheeler said:
Only recently did many of us find out Petrenko started his ‘94 season with a Bolero short program. After that, I can only really think of Olga Markova (‘97- VERY good short), Alexander Abt, Louann Donovan, Michelle Kwan, Elena Liashenko, Chait/Sakhnovsky before both Kostner and Savchenko/Szolkowy used it in the same season. I’m sure there are many others but we had access to much fewer programs back then.
Click to expand...

Lysacek and Tuktamysheva also used Bolero
 
essence_of_soy said:
What's crazy is that Torvill & Dean's former training partners, Regoczy & Sallay, skated to Bolero at the 1983 World Professional Figure Skating Championships in Landover, Maryland. The Hungarians' version was more Latin inspired, but I have no doubt that Jayne and Chris would have been aware of this performance.
Click to expand...

ONe of T&D's biggest influences, Moiseeva & Minenkov, also skated to Bolero in 1982.
 
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