Gems from the Youtube Vault

One of my favorite Youtube channels ever belongs to the incomparable Mintaka Alnilam, who--undoubtedly aided by the forces of cosmic goodness--somehow possesses the wherewithal to constantly upload crystal-clear, high-definition footage of ancient, decades-old figure skating events. This superb Youtubist uploads high-definition videos of skaters both famous and obscure skating at a staggeringly wide spectrum of competitions and exhibitions for the benefit of the figure skating faithful.

Having watched much of these decades-old performances exclusively through grainy, pixellated videos on Youtube for many years, suddenly being able to watch incredibly clear, high-definition videos (often with different camera angles!!) of the same performances is like being able to see the newly restored Sistine Chapel frescoes for the first time after only ever being able to view them cloaked with centuries of grime--just extraordinary. Whoever you are, Mintaka Alnilam, thank you.

Without further ado, here are some select gems from Mintaka Alnilam's Youtube vault:

Sturm und drang

The great pianist Krystian Zimerman once remarked that Sergei Rachmaninoff's earlier Piano Concertos were "young concertos for young pianists"--that is, these concertos are laden with the violence and ecstasy of youthful emotions, before said youths learn to control and hide their emotions on the path to what is deemed 'maturity.' In Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, for instance, we listeners experience everything from the sweet tenderness of first love (Adagio sostenuto) to the violence of hormonally-charged lust (Moderato) and the soaring heights of first forays into onanistic pleasures (Allegro scherzando) in an intensely visceral and personal way. Accordingly, Mr. Zimerman noted that when playing such concertos, control is the one thing he is not aiming for in his performances: "You don't play the Rachmaninoff concertos; you live them."

Transpose that sentiment into figure skating ("you don't skate the Rachmaninoff concertos, you live them"), and that to me captures the number-one thing that is missing from the vast majority of the many, many figure skating programs (however competently choreographed on paper) set to Rachmaninoff's Piano Concertos (almost always the Moderato and Adagio sostenuto movements of Piano Concerto No.2): the lack of emotion, intensity, abandon, life. The music demands that heartstrings be rended and emotions put through the blender, but what we often get instead is a disconcerting disconnect between the intensity and passion of the music and the precise, measured movement and projection of the skater. Before we leap to blame the erstwhile punching bag that is the IJS, it should be noted that dull figure skating programs set to Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 were a dime a dozen even before the IJS was a glint in Mr. Cinquanta's eye. Moreover, in some ways, we can hardly blame skaters for not going emotionally all-out in a competitive setting as figure skating is a sport that demands technical precision and concentration by virtue of the extremely difficult task of launching onself up into the air and rotating multiple times using only a slender metal blade.

Hasta la vista, baby

The year is 2012. Turns out that certain doomsday-minded interpretations of the Mayans' Long Count calendar were indeed correct and the end of civilization as we know it is nigh at last in the form of some complicated galactic alignment...thingy...involving the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* and the hapless planet Earth. Yet all is not quite lost: you have in your hand one valid ticket for the last rocket out of Earth headed towards Saturn's icy moon Titan. The rocket is fuelled and ready, and you have ten minutes left to fill the remaining empty space of your external hard drive with ten figure skating videos. Choose carefully, for these ten videos are to be used to proselyte the gospel of figure skating to the goodly creatures of the brave new world of Titan. What ten videos would you pick?

Your Rachmaninoff Sucks

Sergei Rachmaninoff composed a varied and extensive repertoire, yet those with little exposure to his music aside from figure skating can be forgiven for thinking that the man wrote only a mere two pieces of music. Or, to be more accurate, a mere 1.67 pieces of music: the 18th variation of Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and the first (Moderato) and second (Adagio Sostenuto) movements of Piano Concerto No. 2. Both works of music have been used ad nauseam in figure skating, and one can always count on one or both to be used by a skater/team every season.

In some ways, this is understandable. The first and second movements of Piano Concerto No. 2 are ravishingly beautiful pieces of music, their rich orchestration and lush lyricism sure to be pleasing to the judges' ears even if the skating is not quite on that level. Any skater would understandably want to harness the intoxicating blend of power and poetry of Piano Concerto No. 2, especially since a few enduring masterpieces have already resulted from this particular pairing of Rachmaninoff and skating: