Beethoven Symphony No. 9: "Choral"
It’s hard to believe, we’re coming to the end of the mighty nine with the mightiest of them all, the monumental 9th! I've settled on the original instrument, 1996 performance by Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique with John Elliot Gardner conducting. Fast, gritty, compelling. This one will take the whole hour, beginning to end, in FOUR stages. Stage 1: Spinning into a vast, dark and foreboding landscape, lighting flashing, thunder cracking. An alien land. Will we make it? Will we survive? Running with substantial resistance at cadence of 84. Stage 2: Spin/dancing with ugly yet comical gnomes, as if in a land of Middle Earth. Base resistance up to 30% Max at cadence of 116. FAST Stage 3: The last climb, very heavy resistance at cadence of only 54. At sunset, climbing the great mountain knowing we can never reach the top, yet seeing the majesty of the summit from below. Knowing that the joy lies not in arriving at a the top, but in the journey itself -- upward, and upward. Humbling yet transfiguring effort. Stage 4: A fantasy -- an imagined spinning brotherhood, a song for all mankind, a march for peace on earth and universal love of humanity. Various cadences, resistances and intervals and we join in a mystical run/climb that will not only lift your heart rate, but your very soul. You are welcome to join in the first ever attempt to synthesize this great Beethoven 9th with a spinning exercise. Even if you can’t get into the class, please join us afterward at 12:30 for a champagne toast and wine and cheese to celebrate the end of the Beethoven “cycle” and welcome what is coming next in Sunday Symphonic Spin! For a translation of the Ode to Joy: Click Here For a complete performance of the Symphony on YouTube: Click Here To go back to "Biking to Beethoven" Click Here |