Stride is cast in a single movement and has a performance duration of approximately 15 minutes.
In a pre-premiere interview, León revealed that the music was inspired by the suffragist Susan B. Anthony and the composer's progressive grandmother.[5] The work's title thus refers to the action of moving forward.[2]
Reviewing the world premiere, Zachary Woolfe of The New York Times described the music as possessing "unsettled understatement and quietly ominous power." He also noted, "Stride—which Ms. León described as being about bounding forward—seems an odd title for a piece that is, beautifully, without much sense of forward motion."[6]Jay Nordlinger of The New Criterion wrote, "It is Bernsteinian in parts, reminiscent of West Side Story. Listening, I thought of the term 'jazz-tinged modernism.' There are clarinet licks and the like—riffing and noodling. There is also a great deal of percussion. Obviously, the piece is composed with fondness. Fondness counts for a lot, and so does sincerity. But did Stride seem long to me? I'm afraid it did, as my regular readers would expect."[7]
