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With summer in full swing, we know many people are traveling. Here are 8 pieces inspired by cars or trains: 
  • Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986), by John Adams, is inspired by the thrill of driving at extreme speeds in a sports car.
  • The Little Train of the Brazilian Countryman (1930), by Heitor Villa-Lobos, refers to the local trains that connect the smaller communities in interior Brazil.
  • Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra (2008), by John Williams, is an excerpt from the soundtrack of Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. 
  • Arrival Platform Humlet (1916), by Percy Grainger, in conceived as a melody one might hum while waiting for a train. 
  • L'Omnibus Automobile (1905), by Eric Satie, describes the scene of a bus carrying sacks of plaster drives through the crowd on bastille day.
  • Eisenbahn-Lust-Walzer (1836), by Johann Strauss I, was written to celebrate the opening of the first public railway line out of Vienna. 
  • City Life (1995), by Steve Reich, is a composition inspired by the sounds of New York City, and the first movement incorporates car sounds (revving engines, horns honking) into the instrumentation.
  • Grand Pianola Music (1982), by John Adams, is a 3 part work inspired by a dream the composer had about driving down Interstate 5, as two black limousines approached him from behind (symbolized by the two pianos in the piece).