Manhattan Flourish was commissioned in 2000 by the Goldman Memorial Band, in conjunction with Manhattan School of Music. Formed in 1918, the Goldman was one of the oldest musical institutions in New York City, performing in parks and venues all over the city for more than 95 years. Sadly, it ceased operations in 2005. The piece was written as a commemoration of the new 22-story residence and office tower that Manhattan School had finally built on an empty lot next to its main building. The Goldman premiered the work in the bandshell at Lincoln Center in the summer of 2000.

Structurally, after a brief, buoyant introduction in the brass with trilling winds, a lyrical trumpet solo leads into a kind of development section, based on three themes all related to the opening 'flourish': a jazzy, syncopated idea appearing mostly in saxes, an accented, eighth-note idea in the winds, and a rhythmically slower, majestic theme in brass, which eventually builds to a short chorale. As the tempo picks up, all three themes appear simultaneously in a short Stravinsky-esqe 'mobile,' meaning that on the repetitions, the relationship between the ideas changes, since they are not the same length (which can be thought of as a mobile's rotations). After this, the music builds to a big flourishing finale, complete with a couple of classic New York sounds at the end.