This 2 CD set contains a wide selection of popular classical pieces used by ice skaters in their programmes at major international competitions, including the World Figure Skating Championships and the Winter Olympics.

Some of the music on this album will be heard at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver in the routines of the South Korean skater Yu-Na Kim (Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F) and her Japanese rival Mao Osada (Khachaturian’s Masquerade), as well as those of other leading skaters.

1976 was the first year that Ice Dancing for couples was included in the Winter Olympics. The British team of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean famously won the Olympic gold medal in Sarajevo in 1984 with a dramatic free skate to Ravel's Bolero (included here) which earned unanimous 6.0s for presentation. The Overture to the musical Mack and Mabel, which concludes CD 2, gave Torvill and Dean the opportunity to show a completely different and light-hearted side of their skating talents.

The album also includes some specific recordings actually used in competition routines such as Maksim Mrvica’s arrangement of Liszt’s Totentanz (Michelle Kwan of the USA and Irina Slutskaya of Russia) and the violinist Vanessa-Mae’s interpretation of ‘Nessun dorma’ from Puccini’s opera Turandot (Shizuka Arakawa of Japan and Denise Zimmermann of Germany).

Also included in the programme are pieces of music that have proved popular with many different skaters over the years, such as the main theme from Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake, as well as items from Bizet’s famous opera Carmen, which are used both on their own and in medleys. Piazzolla’s ‘Libertango’ is also now heard frequently on the ice in varying arrangements; it is included here in an authentic performance by an Argentinian orchestra.

Competitive solo figure skating used to be based mainly on gymnastic and acrobatic movements, but the British champion skater John Curry was responsible for bringing the artistic and presentation aspects of men's figure skating to a new level by introducing elements of ballet and modern dance into his performances, and most subsequent skaters have continued to follow suit. In 1976, Curry’s inspired routine to music from the ballet Don Quixote by Minkus (included in this album) won him a gold medal at the European Figure Skating Championship, the World Figure Skating Championship and the Winter Olympics.

Artists

Joan Whiting (oboe), Peter Donohoe (piano), Tasmin Little (violin), Leonard Pennario (piano), Leopoldo Federico (bandonéon), Maksim (piano), Nabil Kalibi (lute), Pete Lockhart (percussion), Tim Bran (keyboards, programmer), André Previn (piano), Vanessa-Mae (violin), Cécile Ousset (piano), Sarah Chang (violin), John Barry Orchestra, José Alberto Giaimo (piano), Julio Oscar Pane (bandonéon), Raúl Garello (bandonéon), J.A. Giaimo (piano), Piers Lane (piano), Pierre Dervaux - Orchestre De Paris - Luben Yordanoff, Luben Yordanoff (violin), Paul Tortelier (cello), Robert Johnston (harp), Adam Pickard (programmer), Orion (programmer), Maxim Vengerov (violin), Vag Papian (piano), John Ogdon (piano), The Orchestra Of Mack & Mabel, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, New World Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, The Leopoldo Federico Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Berliner Philharmoniker, The John Barry Orchestra, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de Paris, Philadelphia Orchestra, Virtuosi, Piccadilly Theatre Orchestra, Efrem Kurtz, Ennio Morricone, Sir Simon Rattle, Iain Sutherland, John Lanchbery, Willi Boskovsky, Yuri Temirkanov, Robert Irving, Carmen Dragon, Mariss Jansons, Seiji Ozawa, Matt Dunkley, Otto Ackermann, Viktor Fedotov, Plácido Domingo, John Barry, Michel Plasson, Wolff, Pierre Dervaux, Louis Frémaux, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Mikhail Parhamovsky, Julian Kelly