Libby Larsen wrote Collage: Boogie for the American/Soviet Youth Symphony to perform while they were on tour. The initial terms of the commission required that the piece last only one minute! That’s not a lot of time for an orchestral work—or any piece of music, for that matter—so Larsen renegotiated the length. To get a lot of music into a short amount of time, she settled on the “collage” form that juxtaposes elements not normally associated with one another. Larsen uses snippets of famous American boogies like “Kitten on the Keys” and “Down the Road a Piece,” and weaves them into a complex texture with constantly shifting perspectives. The effect is one of urban activity and intense bustle.