Gerschwin is one of my favourite composers - his piano music, though difficult, fits comfortably under the fingers in a way that few other composers can manage. This homage (another piece of juvenalia, I think I was about twenty when I wrote it) is a programmatic piece. The scene is a desert wasteland, baking under a hot noonday sun. Railway tracks stretch to the shimmering horizon. A tramp, dressed in shabby rags, a bag on his back, is trudging along them. He pauses as the tracks thrum with the vibrations of an approaching train. It passes by, remorseless and mechanical, and vanishes into the distance. The tramp shoulders his pack once more and resumes his weary journey under the pitiless sun. Soon he is lost to sight in the haze.
Listening to this one will require more imagination than usual, I'm afraid. The score calls for molto rubato which my score player cannot manage. The triplet bars in particular should speed up and slow down. There's also too much attack on the accompanying chords.