Broadway Boogie

"Broadway Boogie" was commissioned at the instigation of David Shifrin and Ransom Wilson to be part of a program including the Copland Clarinet Concerto ? something that would allow Wilson to take off his conductor hat and put on his flutist hat, joining Shifrin in playing a bit of rabble-rousing music. The piece was completed on July 6, 1987, and the instrumentation of the accompanying forces (harp, piano, and strings) is that of the Copland Concerto, although in this case the work is designed to be playable by either a string orchestra or solo strings. The title (which was suggested by the music, not the other way around) comes from a Mondrian painting at the Museum of Modern Art, and in the back of my mind I have the idea of some day making it one of a suite of pieces named after famous paintings in that museum. The music incorporates some classic figures from boogie-woogie and fifties rock ?n? roll, but adapted to seven-four time, a meter that is very little used in American popular music. Some jazzish lines finally settle the piece into four-four time, as it builds to a rousing finish.