IT’S THE WINTER OLYMPICS. THE OLYYYYYYMPIIIIIIIIIIIIICSSSSSS!
Ba da da da da bididi ba da da da da da BWAAAAA
I am no athlete but damn, I love me some workout playlists. I use them when I clean my house or to energetically soundtrack my walks to the grocery store…
Like I said, I am no athlete.
But now it is the Winter Olympics. A precious time when all Americans suddenly become experts in sports they completely ignore for three out of four years, and everyone tries and fails to land a triple salchow in their living room.
Luckily, I have some friends who were willing to give me input on what athletic types like/want when they work out, and I tried to keep the BPMs between 90-180 increasing as the playlist goes along so you can skip ahead to wherever you like your BPM or whatever athletic people do*. At the end, there are two MAGNIFICENT triumphal fanfares to send you off as a true hero of sport, or at least, a sporty attitude.
Here’s the list, Spotify link** at the bottom
Olympic Level Workout Fodder
- Mlada Suite: 5. Cortège –Rimsky-Korsakov (So you can Olympically process into whatever you’re taking on and/or warm-up)
- Peer Gynt: 8. In the Hall of the Mountain King – Grieg
- Die Walküre (The Valkyries): Act III “Hojotoho!” – Wagner
- Sylvia: Act III “Cortège de Bacchus” – Delibes
- 2-Part Inventions, BWV 779: Invention no. 8 in F major – J.S. Bach
- Violin Concerto in D Minor, No 3. Allegro, ma non tanto – Sibelius
- Ercole sul Termodonte (Hercules in Thermadon): “Non fia della vittoria” – Vivaldi (May no cloud of cruelty ever overshadow the pride of victory.The glory of winning is enough, and that glory shall be mine.)
- I Masnadieri (The Bandits): “Carlo vive?” – Verdi (lyrics are…less applicable here)
- Petrushka: Russian Dance – Stravinsky
- Swan Lake: Act III, No 21. “Spanish Dance” – Tchaikovsky
- Concerto in F: III. Allegro agitato – Gershwin
- Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, 4. Finale – Tchaikovsky
- 4 Dance Episodes from Rodeo: Hoe-Down – Copland
- Violin Concerto No 2. The American Four Seasons: Movement III– Glass
- The Rite of Spring, Part 2: The Sacrifice, III. “Glorification of the Chosen One”– Stravinsky (…real quick…everyone knows about THIS VIDEO right?)
- Swan Lake (yes, again. It’s peppy as hell) Act II, No 13 Coda: Allegro vivace
- Symphony No. 6 in C Major, “Dollar Symphony”: III. Vivace – Atterberg
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Overture – Mendelssohn (if you don’t pretend to be a fairy during this music, you’re doing it wrong)
- Die Fledermaus (The Bat): “Im Feuerstrom der Reben” (“In the firestorm from the vines”) (That hyperbole is about champagne as is the whole thing. There is a *primo* fist pump moment in each verse too. DIY instructions at the link)
- Double Bass Concerto “The Wolf” III. Allegro vivace – Tan Dun
- Symphony No 25 in G Minor, I. Allegro con brio – Mozart
- Auf der Jagd (On the Hunt) – J. Strauss II (There are “gunshots” on this so fair warning, it might be confusing if you’re training for a biathalon while listening to this)
- Flight of the Bumblebee – Rimsky-Korsakov (I went with the violin version, but you could have an orchestral version, a brass version, a choral version, a flute version, a piano version…
- Michelangelo ’70 – Piazzolla
- Concerto Fantasy for 2 Timpanists and Organ (arr. M. Lortz for 2 Timp & Wind Ensemble) III. – Glass
- “West Side Story” Symphonic Dances: 4. Mambo – Bernstein
- Estancia Ballet Suite: 1. “Land Workers” – Ginastera
(The rest of the playlist is longer form, less regularly rhythmed pieces, but pieces that people informed me they actually exercise to) - Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville): Overture – Rossini
- Marche Slave – Tchaikovksy
- Romeo and Juliet: Act 1: “Dance of the Knights” –Prokofiev
- Symphony No. 2 in C Minor “Resurrection”: 1. Allegro maestoso. mit durchaus ernstem und feierlichem Ausdruck (with serious and solemn expression throughout) – Mahler
- Symphony No. 5 in C Minor: IV. Allegro – Beethoven
YOU DID IT!!!!!!!! LET’S TAKE YOU OUT WITH A FANFARE OF GLORY - Sinfonietta: 1. Allegretto-Allegro-Maestoso – Janácek
- *super secret bonus track*
Good luck to all of you actually training your bodies to be strong and impressive, and a special shoutout to the rest of us participating in the daily Olympics of the modern world who just need some motivating music. Heck, maybe I’ll even do a pushup today.
*If I am really on top of it all I hope to have some shorter, genre/era specific playlists too so if you’re dying for a minimalist/baroque/opera/20th century percussion ensemble workout playlist LEMME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS! There are some very nice viagra salesbots down there you can meet too.
***Making youtube playlists takes forever so if anyone actually wants one, please be the first non-sex-robot to leave us a comment and I will make it just for you, until then, Spotify takes the gold.