View source for Short Ride in a Fast Machine

{{Short description|1986 orchestral work by John Adams}}
{{Italic title}}
[[File:John Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine Tromba Lontana score cover.png|thumb|Cover of the score edition by [[Boosey & Hawkes]]]]
'''''Short Ride in a Fast Machine''''' is a 1986 orchestral work by [[John Adams (composer)|John Adams]]. Adams applies the description "[[fanfare]] for orchestra" to this work and to the earlier ''[[Tromba Lontana]]'' (1986).<ref>[https://www.earbox.com/short-ride-in-a-fast-machine/ ''Short Ride in a Fast Machine''], earbox.com, John Adams's web site</ref> The former is also known as ''Fanfare for Great Woods'' because it was commissioned for the [[Great Woods]] Festival of the [[Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra]].<ref name=Mauskapf>{{cite journal |last1=Mauskapf |first1=Michael |title=The American Orchestra as Patron and Presenter, 1945–Present: A Selective Discography |journal=[[Notes (journal)|Notes]]|date=2009 |volume=66 |issue=2 |pages=381–393 |doi=10.1353/not.0.0233 |id={{ProQuest|1111258}} |jstor=40539477 |s2cid=191595812 }}</ref>

As a commentary on the title, Adams inquires, "You know how it is when someone asks you to ride in a terrific sports car, and then you wish you hadn't?"<ref>[[Michael Steinberg (music critic)|Michael Steinberg]], "''Short Ride in a Fast Machine''", in ''The John Adams Reader: Essential Writings on an American Composer'', ed. Thomas May, (Pompton Plains, New Jersey: Amadeus Press, 2006), 108.</ref> The work is an example of Adams's [[Postminimalism|postminimal]] style, which is utilized in other works like ''[[Phrygian Gates]]'', ''[[Shaker Loops]]'', and ''[[Nixon in China]]''.<ref name=Kleppinger>{{cite journal |last1=Kleppinger |first1=Stanley V. |title=Metrical Issues in John Adams's ''Short Ride in a Fast Machine'' |journal=[[Indiana Theory Review]]|date=2001 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=65–81 |jstor=24054248 |url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicfacpub/52/ }}</ref> This style derives from [[minimalism]] as defined by the works of [[Steve Reich]], [[Terry Riley]], and [[Philip Glass]], although it proceeds to "make use of minimalist techniques in more dramatic settings."<ref name=Heisinger>{{cite journal |last1=Heisinger |first1=Brent |title=American Minimalism in the 1980s |journal=[[American Music (journal)|American Music]]|date=1989 |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=430–447 |doi=10.2307/3051914 |jstor=3051914 }}</ref>

A typical performance of ''Short Ride'' lasts about four and a half minutes.

==Popularity, performance and cancellations==
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra premiered ''Short Ride in a Fast Machine'' in 1986.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19920210&id=arUcAAAAIBAJ&pg=1378,5395923|title=Audience gets role in 'Concert of Future'|author=Donald Rosenberg|author-link=Donald Rosenberg|date=10 February 1992|work=[[The Pittsburgh Press]]|publisher=[[E. W. Scripps Company ]]|access-date=10 May 2014}}</ref>

The [[fanfare]] was the 10th most-performed orchestral work composed in the last twenty-five years, in 2008.<ref name=Mauskapf />

The work was performed at the [[BBC Proms]] in 2004, 2014 and 2019.<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/search/work/short-ride-in-a-fast-machine/16811 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130418092200/http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/search/work/short-ride-in-a-fast-machine/16811 |date=2013-04-18 }}{{full citation needed|date=February 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Prom 4: ''The Planets''|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ed6qwh|access-date=Aug 20, 2020|website=BBC Music Events}}</ref> Scheduled performances at [[The Proms#Last Night of the Proms|the Last Night of the Proms]] were cancelled twice: in 1997 after the death of [[Princess Diana]], and in 2001 after the [[September 11 attacks]].<ref>
{{cite news
 | last = Clements
 | first = Andrew
 | title = A Night to Forget
 | newspaper = [[The Guardian]]
 | date = 2001-09-14
 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/sep/15/books
 | access-date = 2019-03-02}}</ref>

Lawrence Odom transcribed the piece for [[concert band]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.windrep.org/Short_Ride_in_a_Fast_Machine_%28tr_Odom%29 |title=''Short Ride in a Fast Machine'' (tr Odom)}}</ref>

The piano duo of [[Christina and Michelle Naughton]] open their album ''American Postcard'' <ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.warnerclassics.com/release/american-postcard | title=''American Postcard''| date=22 March 2019}}</ref> with the piece, in a two piano arrangement by [[Preben Antonsen]].

==Orchestra==
The piece is [[orchestration|scored]] for the following large orchestra:<ref>John Adams, ''Two Fanfares for Orchestra'', Study Score, Hendon Music Inc. 1986. Designations as given in the score.{{page needed|date=February 2021}}</ref>

{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
;[[Woodwind]]s
:2 [[piccolo]]s
:2 [[Western concert flute|flutes]]
:2 [[oboe]]s
:1 [[Cor anglais|English horn]]
:2 (optional 4) [[clarinet]]s in A and B{{music|flat}}
:3 [[bassoon]]s
:1 [[contrabassoon]]

;[[Brass section|Brass]]
:4 [[French horn|horns]] in F
:4 [[trumpet]]s in C
:3 [[trombone]]s
:1 [[tuba]]
{{col-2}}
;[[Percussion]]
:[[timpani]]
:{{Hanging indent |3 percussionists: high/medium/low [[Woodblock (instrument)|woodblocks]], pedal [[bass drum]], [[snare drum]], large bass drum, [[suspended cymbal]], [[sizzle cymbal]], large [[tamtam|tam tam]], [[tambourine]], [[Triangle (musical instrument)|triangle]], [[glockenspiel]], [[xylophone]], [[crotales]]}}

;[[Keyboard instrument|Keyboards]]
: 2 [[synthesizer]]s with "analog brass" preset (optional)

;[[String section|Strings]]
:[[violin]]s I, II
:[[viola]]s
:[[cello]]s
:[[double bass]]es
{{col-end}}

==Style and analysis==
===Harmonic devices===
''Short Ride in a Fast Machine'', true to its [[Minimalism|minimalist]] heritage, utilizes a [[tonality|tonal]] language that, according to Catherine Pellegrino, "is not as neatly defined and predictable as that of common-practice tonality".{{sfn|Pellegrino|2002}} Adams is known (especially in ''[[Phrygian Gates]]'') for the concept of "gating", which is the process of suddenly changing certain pitches in a [[harmony]], often based on different [[mode (music)|mode]]s.{{sfn|Adams|Jemian|de Zeeuw|1996}}

[[File:Short Ride 1.jpg|thumb|upright=2.5|Example 1. Harmonic transformations in the first section]]

As seen in Example 1, the initial pitch collection of D, E, and A, as scored in the clarinets and optional synthesizers, slowly transforms over time by adding pitches. This process is a concept of changing harmony, which Adams describes as "bring[ing] in a new key area almost on the sly, stretching the ambiguity out over such a length of time that the listener would hardly notice that a change had taken place".<ref name=Heisinger /> By measure 52, the aggregate of pitches suddenly shifts as the E major chord is replaced by a B-flat major chord. Meanwhile, the original pitch collection continues to exist as an unchanging force.{{sfn|Adams|2010|p=777}} This process is the main harmonic device that Adams employs, as the next section shifts pitch collections more rapidly for contrast, while other sections return to the pace of the first section.{{sfn|Adams|2010|p=778}}

===Rhythmic devices===
In its [[rhythm]], this work adheres to the main precepts of [[minimalism]], one of which is the use of repeated material, generally in the form of [[ostinato|ostinati]]. Minimalism also favours a strong sense of pulse, which Adams emphasizes strongly in ''Short Ride in a Fast Machine'' in his scoring of the wood block. Adams claims that "I need to experience that fundamental tick" in his work.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{harvnb|Adams|Jemian|de Zeeuw|1996|p=94}}</ref> Throughout the course of the work, Adams experiments with the idea of rhythmic dissonance as material begins to appear, initially in the trumpets, and generates a new sense of pulse.<ref name=Kleppinger /> As shown below, the manifestation of rhythmic dissonance is akin to Adams's method of creating harmonic dissonance as he adds conflicting rhythms to disrupt the metronomic stability of the wood block. Adams himself admits that he seeks to "enrich the experience of perceiving the way that time is divided" within his works.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Later in the work, (see Example 5) Adams introduces a simple [[polyrhythm]] as a means of initiating a new section that contrasts the rhythmic dissonance of the first section.

[[File:Short Ride 2.jpg|upright=2.5|center|thumb|Example 2. Initial rhythmic dissonance]]
[[File:Short Ride 3.png|upright=2.5|center|thumb|Example 3. Development of rhythmic dissonance]]
[[File:Short Ride 4.png|upright=2.5|center|thumb|Example 4. Result of rhythmic dissonance]]
[[File:Short Ride 5.png|upright=2.5|center|thumb|Example 5. Polyrhythmic dissonance at a later section]]

===Formal devices===
The idea of formal closure and rhetorical devices in a sense of [[common practice]] is skewed in the works of John Adams, especially in ''Short Ride in a Fast Machine''. While works of common practice organize material by phrases which are separated by [[cadence|cadential material]], this work is in a state of perpetual motion as the additive element of harmonic and rhythmic material drives the work forward. The "gating" concept gives the overall work a sense of sectional design, but the indication of termination through cadence is something that is absent from the work until the very end, which emulates a ii–V–I cadence.{{sfn|Pellegrino|2002|p=169}}

[[File:Short Ride 6.png|thumb|upright=1.3|center|Final cadence]]

In terms of defining the sections of the work, the wood block is scored in a way that creates a four-part form. The first and third parts of the work have a high wood block present in the scoring, which is contrasted by a low wood block in the second part, while the final part features the absence of wood block.{{sfn|Adams|2010|pp=777–778}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|colwidth=35em}}
'''Sources'''
* {{cite journal|last1=Adams|first1=John|last2=Jemian|first2=Rebecca|last3=de Zeeuw|first3=Anne Marie|title=An Interview with John Adams|journal=[[Perspectives of New Music]]|date=1996|volume=34|issue=2|pages=88–104|doi=10.2307/833472|jstor=833472}}
* {{cite book|last=Adams|first=John|chapter=''Short Ride in a Fast Machine''|title=Norton Anthology of Western Music|volume=3|editor1=[[J. Peter Burkholder]]|editor2=[[Claude V. Palisca]]|location=New York|publisher=W. W. Norton|year=2010|isbn=978-0-393-65643-5}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Pellegrino|first1=Catherine|title=Aspects of Closure in the Music of John Adams|journal=[[Perspectives of New Music]]|date=2002|volume=40|issue=1|pages=147–175|jstor=833551}}

== External links ==
* {{YouTube|5LoUm_r7It8|title=Video}}, ''Short Ride in a Fast Machine'' – BBC Proms 2014, [[BBC Symphony Orchestra]], conducted by [[Marin Alsop]]

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[[Category:Compositions by John Adams (composer)]]
[[Category:1986 compositions]]
[[Category:Compositions for symphony orchestra]]
[[Category:Music commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra]]