The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway - so good, they wrote a symphony about it

Highways and driving feature heavily in popular song - from '60s surf groups to modern hip-hop - but how many roads get classical music written about them? Sufjan Stevens' The BQE is the honourable exception...
January 26, 2024

THE BQE- A FILM BY SUFJAN STEVENS


The BQE is a mixed-medium artistic exploration of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway by Sufjan Stevens. The project originally manifested in the form of a live show, performed on November 1–3, 2007. The show consisted of an original film, directed and written by Stevens, accompanied by an orchestra performing a live soundtrack.

The album recording was made after the rehearsals for the show. It was recorded live during a one-day session in Legacy Studios' A509 orchestral suite (since closed and demolished) with most of the group in the same large room together.

A multimedia package of The BQE was released on October 20, 2009. The set consists of a CD of the show's soundtrack, a DVD of Brooklyn-Queen Expressway footage that accompanied the original performance (not a film of the performance itself), a 40-page booklet with liner notes and photos, and a stereoscopic 3D View-Master reel. There is also a limited edition version that features the soundtrack on 180-gram vinyl and a 40-page BQE-themed comic book starring the show's hula-hooping wonder women, The Hooper Heroes.

The BQE was called a "symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City's infamous Brooklyn–Queens Expressway." 

The BQE was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of their Next Wave Festival.

Related Content

  • Overture is open to the bigger picture
    June 18, 2024
    Four of the biggest players in the world of mapping have joined forces to create easy-to-use, interoperable open data that will power the next generation of maps. Kevin Borras talks collaborative interoperability with Overture Map Foundation’s Marc Prioleau and TomTom’s Willem Strijbosch
    Read More
  • Active traffic management - challenges and benefits
    April 12, 2013
    Minnesota DoT has built one of the most intensive Active Traffic Management (ATM) systems on the road today. Like many ITS deployments, the state has gained benefits but also faces many challenges, as Pete Goldin reports. Smart Lanes is the brand name of Minnesota Department of Transportation’s (MnDoT) ATM system on I-35W in the Twin Cities Metro Area. The original system covered 16 miles of I-35W south of Minneapolis starting in 2009, and was extended by two miles in 2011. Additional ATM equipment was inst
    Read More
  • Flir expands Marseille’s tunnel vision
    November 12, 2014
    Marseille’s city authority has added the monitoring of a second tunnel to the existing network with a new approach towards video management. Measuring 1.5km in length, the double-deck Prado Sud tunnel extends Marseille’s existing 2.5km Prado Carénage tunnel towards the southern part of the city. While it was logical to use a common control room and to use the latest detection and monitoring systems in the new tunnel, it was deemed too disruptive and costly to completely upgrade the existing tunnel.
    Read More
  • Moia’s ride pooling concept plans to replace 1 million cars on roads
    December 6, 2017
    Moia, the mobility startup from Volkswagen Group, has introduced a fully electric six-seated car as part of its ride pooling concept that plans to replace 1 million cars and reduce congestion on major cities in Europe and the USA by 2025. The car, unveiled at TechCrunch in Berlin, will launch in Hamburg at the end of next year. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Volkswagen Osnabrück planned, developed and built the Moia car, which according to WLTP-standard has a range of more than 300km and can be charged
    Read More

Highlighted Content