Short Ride in a Fast Machine

John Adams completed Short Ride in a Fast Machine in 1986. He applies the description "fanfare for orchestra" to this work and to the earlier Tromba Lontana (1986). The former is also known as Fanfare for Great Woods because it was commissioned for the Great Woods Festival of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. 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?" This work is an iconic example of Adams's postminimal style, which is utilized in other works like Phrygian Gates, Shaker Loops, and Nixon in China. 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."

Short Ride in a Fast Machine premiered in 1986, when it was performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.Short Ride in a Fast Machine has been generally well received in terms of performance, according to a report in 2008 that places the fanfare as "the tenth most-performed orchestral work composed in the last twenty-five years." It was scheduled to be performed on two occasions at the Last Night of the Proms, but both times it was cancelled because of its title: the first time was in 1997 after the death of Princess Diana and the second was in 2001 in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. However, Short ride in a fast machine was performed at the BBC Proms on Saturday July 24, 2004, and on Thursday September 4, 2014. The piece has been transcribed for concert band by Lawrence Odom.

The Fanfare is scored for a large symphonic orchestra, consisting of

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