This is the world-premiere recording of Joseph Schwantner's Fast Track: Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble, performed on November 16, 2024, by the Hartt Wind Ensemble with soloist Benjamin Toth (for whom the piece was written), and John R. "Rusty" Koenig, conductor, who delivers comments on the work before the performance.

Schwantner's compositional career has been marked by many awards, grants, and fellowships, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for his orchestral composition Aftertones of Infinity, and several Grammy nominations. His Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra, commissioned for the 150th anniversary season of the New York Philharmonic, is one of the most performed concert works of the past several decades. Christopher Lamb, soloist in the Naxos recording of the Concerto by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, received a 2012 Grammy Award for "Best Classical Instrumental Solo" for his performance.

Fast Track is Schwantner's second entry into the percussion concerto genre and his first for percussion and wind ensemble. The piece was commissioned through a consortium of 33 university and professional wind ensembles by Lead Commissioner Glen Adsit (1965-2024) of the The Hartt School, University of Hartford. Profoundly dedicated to enriching student experiences and contributing to the progress of literature for the wind ensemble, Adsit led numerous consortiums in his role as Director of Bands at The Hartt School and premiered and recorded many of these pieces with his students. Fast Track was the final commission that he led, and it is dedicated to him. Shortly before his death, Adsit passed the project to his final doctoral conducting student, John R. "Rusty" Koenig, who conducted this premiere performance.

Adsit and Schwantner collaborated closely with Benjamin Toth, Professor of Percussion at The Hartt School, to create Fast Track. Adsit and Toth previously collaborated to commission Nebojša Jovan Živković's percussion concerto Tales from the Center of the Earth, the recording of which appears on the Naxos label’s Passaggi, with Adsit conducting the Hartt Wind Ensemble, and Toth, soloist. Adsit’s recording of Schwantner’s Recoil also appears on this CD.