Short Ride in a Fast Machine

“You know how it is when someone asks you to ride in a terrific sports car, and then you wish you hadn’t?”

This is what the American composer John Adams said about the experience behind the fanfare he wrote in 1986.

With all respect to John Adams, I beg to differ.

When a new world opens up in front of you, why not enjoy it  for as long as you have access to it?

Having said that, the fanfare is one of the most ebullient short pieces of music that I have heard, and it suits the short ride in the fast red beauty perfectly.

No matter what you were thinking, no matter what you were doing, this piece is magic.

It draws you into its world, like the red beauty does, and you are a new person, even for the 4 minutes it lasts. Not bad I would say!

In this sense, the music and the car have a lot in common.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3xTdE1fnqM

The red beauty to begin with, is a stunning piece of sculpture. I would not mind parking it in the middle of my living room.

And then the engine starts, and you have this eerie feeling that behind you there is something special.

You lift the clutch and get going.

And you feel that car and driver are one. In “cart” terminology, “you wear the car”.

The rest is not for publishing.

Thank you red beauty, thank you John Adams!

 

 

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