# Short Ride in a Fast Machine



## timothyjuddviolin (Nov 1, 2011)

Here are two Fanfares by John Adams with a few of my thoughts about the music. There's a new San Francisco Symphony recording out of "Short Ride in a Fast Machine". I'd be interested in hearing opinions on it.

Short Ride in a Fast Machine


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

It's a very likeable piece.


----------



## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

Been getting into John Adams recently, but haven't 'got' this one yet.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

"Short Ride" is said to be the most-programmed piece in the US by a living composer. Another piece in the same vein, longer but maybe easier to "get," is Lollapalooza from 1995.


----------



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

"Short Ride" is Adams' most frequently performed work.

Its a good fanfare, well written and including those required / expected elements of big brass, and the flourish. The piece is quite appropriate for, say, the opening of a hall or season, but more than one or two listens and I don't need any more of it. I really dislike and am disappointed in the last several bars and the ending -- sounds as if he either didn't know what to do or just was not able to think of how to better wrap it up.

In contrast, he has written other pieces I have not tired of upon repetition for years....

From the pair, I prefer Tromba Lontana for both the "kind of sound it makes" and its emotional atmosphere, as it were. Though I prefer it, it too, wore thin pretty quickly after only two hearings (fair enough, I'm sure the composer did not intend to have any listener linger long over either brief fanfare, or to listen to either one repeatedly.)

This quiet fanfare makes a perfect lead-in on a program followed by Adams' "Common Tones in simple Time." an earlier orchestral piece, quite ambient in feel, which to me suggests flying over a landscape. As with flying vs. landspeed, you have little or no real sense of traveling fast, but traveling nonetheless.

Tromba Lontana




Common Tones in Simple Time





Common Tones in Simple Time, known to me for some years, has not ceased to once in a while fully hold my interest and attention.

Best regards.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

PetrB said:


> Common Tones in Simple Time, known to me for some years, has not ceased to once in a while fully hold my interest and attention.


Many thanks for this! I had never really listened to "Common Tones" but did just now. Yes, it's a keeper! There's yet more flying around in the last few minutes of Harmonielehre...

Quite surprising how different Adams's works are from one another, though all are very finely crafted. Certainly not all are of equal interest. A poster on another forum recently suggested that Adams is America's Ravel, an interesting view.


----------



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

KenOC said:


> Many thanks for this! I had never really listened to "Common Tones" but did just now. Yes, it's a keeper! There's yet more flying around in the last few minutes of Harmonielehre...
> 
> Quite surprising how different Adams's works are from one another, though all are very finely crafted. Certainly not all are of equal interest. A poster on another forum recently suggested that Adams is America's Ravel, an interesting view.


You are quite welcome, of course. I sometimes think my best is recommending pieces I think fine, i.e. sharing the enthusiasm for them. I'm always pleased when a given suggestion finds another who also likes it.

I quite agree with the fact all he makes seems to be well-crafted, at least. Your list would maybe be different from mine, but since he has worked almost exclusively on commissions from the beginning of his career, it seems to me about half the works are well-crafted but not inspired, or don't say much of anything, the other memorable, saying something and having a long staying power.

The Ravel analogy I think _somewhat_ apt -- but _only_ somewhat.


----------



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

PetrB said:


> I quite agree with the fact all he makes seems to be well-crafted, at least. Your list would maybe be different from mine, but since he has worked almost exclusively on commissions from the beginning of his career, it seems to me about half the works are well-crafted but not inspired, or don't say much of anything, the other memorable, saying something and having a long staying power.


Agreed on all points. I know that my list differs from yours (and most other people's) in that I prefer the 90s Violin Concerto over The Dharma at Big Sur. Adams is always a composer worth noting, at the least.

As for Short Ride, it's nice, and accomplishes what it sets out to do, which isn't all that much. I'm sure the composer is a little bit surprised at the inordinate amount of attention it gets compared to his other works.


----------



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Mahlerian said:


> Agreed on all points. I know that my list differs from yours (and most other people's) in that I prefer the 90s Violin Concerto over The Dharma at Big Sur. Adams is always a composer worth noting, at the least.
> 
> As for Short Ride, it's nice, and accomplishes what it sets out to do, which isn't all that much. I'm sure the composer is a little bit surprised at the inordinate amount of attention it gets compared to his other works.


That earlier piece is one helluva fine fiddle concerto, and that, and Dharma at Big Sur, are both on my list. Different critters, both fine.


----------

