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        • Joan Tower

        • Fast Ride in a Short Machine (2025)

        • Associated Music Publishers Inc (World)

        Commissioned by The Juilliard School
         
        First performed on April 6, 2026
        at the Judy and Arthur Zankel Hall in Carnegie Hall, New York, New York
        by the Juilliard Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop

        Commissioner exclusivity applies


        Unavailable for performance.

        • 1(pic).1.1.1/2.1.btbn.0/timp.1[+]perc/str
        • 11 min

        Programme Note

        Composer note
        When I received this commission to write a short piece for an American program, the first piece I thought of was John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine, a brilliant four-minute work with a fast-paced tempo, held together by a repeated woodblock figure that is set in a wild and colorfully orchestrated landscape. My work is longer but still fast (without the woodblock rhythm) and features five short solos on clarinet, violin, cello, trumpet, timpani and percussion. I tried to write a challenging piece for the extraordinary (and high energy) Juilliard orchestra — one of the best orchestras around

        My apologies to John for rearranging his title (like I did for Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, which I turned into Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman), but I think of those titles as a kind of tribute to two of our important and talented American composers.

        — Joan Tower

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