"The music of Olympic figure skating isn't what it could be"

Article in the Washington Post by Anne Midgette on 14 Feb 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/11/AR2010021105474.html

Some excerpts:

Music for skating has never been noted for its quality. Fans are accustomed to kitschy arrangements, abrupt cuts and sub-par sound systems.

It's "also a new generation of choreographers," [Weisiger] says, who "don't have the same appreciation for classical music."

Even for those who do want to improve the musical level of the sport, there are limits to what you can do in less than five minutes, especially when you're working with a skater, a choreographer and a coach who may all have their own ideas of what they want. 

Even the musically knowledgeable do things to their musical selections that would outrage any purist. Alexander Goldstein, a Russian-born composer who has been arranging music for athletes since he worked with the Soviet figure skating and rhythmic gymnastics teams in the 1970s, points out that on his computer he can "make the music faster, make the music slower, without any degradation of the sound quality." But that's the least of his manipulation.

This all reminds me of my sister, who, when studying for her degree in Music, was appalled by the lack of musical integrity in my music-cutting skills. Wonder if I can now co-opt her into arranging music for skaters...