Tunes of glory (and shame) Notes from the crossroads of competitive figure skating and music: The biggest winners: Skaters using Bizet's "Carmen" have won at least 54 medals in national and international competition, according to www.skatemusiclist.com. Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" (38 medals), Ernesto Lecouna's "Malaguena" (30) and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 (29 between them) have helped bring in the next-most medals.
The biggest loser: Richard Rodgers' ballet "Slaughter on 10th Avenue" has been used by at least 16 different individuals or pairs and never won a gold medal.
Hum-merific: At the 1956 Olympics, the last time the skating competition was held outdoors, the audience in Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, began humming along during Tenley Albright's long program to "Barcarolle" from Jacques Offenbach's "Tales of Hofmann." Albright became the first American woman to win the Olympic skating gold medal.
A double Minnesota connection: Minnetonka native Jill Trenary often skated to music by onetime University of Minnesota student Yanni. At the pop-heavy 1990 nationals, not only did Trenary use Yanni's music, but Tonya Harding skated to Prince and Nancy Kerrigan to Neil Diamond.
Most apropos selections: At the 1991 nationals, Harding utilized a medley that included "Wild Thing," "Batman" and "Send in the Clowns" (no, not "Send in the Hitman").
Soundtrack City: During last year's nationals, among the selections were tunes from the movies "Kill Bill," "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights," "Legends of the Fall," "Swing Kids," "Beauty and the Beast," "American Beauty" and "House of Flying Daggers."
BILL WARD
