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

  • Columbia goes intermodal to support sustainability
    April 10, 2014
    David Crawford on the ups and downs of a Latin metropolis. Medellín, Colombia’s second city and a recognised leader in sustainable transport thinking, is rapidly extending its substantial existing investment in modern mobility. It is deploying both an enhanced integrated traffic management array and the country’s first intermodal public transportation management system. The supplier of both, under separate €9 million (US$12.3 million) contracts, is Spanish engineering company Indra, a major exporter
    Read More
  • Network of National ITS Associations elects officers for 2012/14
    May 11, 2012
    At a recent meeting in Copenhagen, hosted by the city and ITS Denmark, the Network of National ITS Associations, a grouping of national ITS interests that currently consists of 26 member organisations, re-elected the sitting chairman, vice chair, and one of the coordinating committee officers. The Ertico – ITS Europe-hosted network now includes on its coordination committee, Jennie Martin, ITS UK as chairman; Norbert Handke, ITS Network Germany – vice chairman and project champion; Christer Karlsson, ITS Sw
    Read More
  • Surveillance system planned for Mumbai-Pune expressway
    February 18, 2014
    In an effort to reduce the high number of accidents on India's first six-lane, high-speed, access controlled tolled expressway, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has decided to install a surveillance system involving speed cameras and digital message signs. According to a tender notice issued by the MSRDC, a total of 84 high-speed cameras will be installed at seven locations on the 93 kilometre road. The GPRS-based system will also record details such as the vehicle’s registrati
    Read More
  • Glasgow’s new Operations Centre has a key role in city’s future
    June 6, 2014
    David Crawford investigates a control centre with a future. Destined to play a central role in keeping the city and its transport running smoothly during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in July, the new Glasgow Operations Centre in Scotland’s largest urban centre formally went live earlier this year. The aim was to dry run its far-reaching integration of previously distinct core systems and familiarise the public with the initial phase of what will be a long-term post-event legacy. The centre brings together, i
    Read More

Highlighted Content