I don’t recall the first time I heard Different Trains, but it made a massive impression. I clearly remember hearing a performance from Edge Hill station on Stuart Maconie’s BBC radio show for Reich’s 80th birthday, and suspect it might have been he who first introduced me. I picked up a copy at the charity shop, when I saw it.
This is the original Kronos Quartet recording of Different Trains, and it’s beautiful. America - Before The War recalls Reich’s own train journeys in the 1930s and uses spoken samples from Reich’s governess from the 1930s and a train porter, the cadence of their speech determining the quartet’s playing, with train whistles in perfect tune with this. Europe - During The War takes a darker and more discordant turn, using the same structure but this time the speech samples are of Holocaust survivors telling of altogether different train journeys. After The War combines the recollections from USA and Europe, and is a calmer, brighter piece. Again, the string quartet mimic the tone of the speech samples, recalling many of the themes from the first section.
It’s an absolutely stunning piece of music - not mawkish or sentimental, just comparing experiences of Jewish children on either side of the Atlantic.
In contrast, Electric Counterpoint is a minimalist piece for 10 prerecorded guitars, with an eleventh played live, in this recording by jazz guitarist Pat Metheny. It’s a restful, gentle piece of about 15 minutes, divided into three shorter sections, and acts as a perfect ‘comedown’ after the intensity of Different Trains.
5* - for Different Trains alone. It’s an unforgettable piece of music. Simply breathtaking.
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