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Music : Different Trains
1 2
Rating: 
- A surprising fusion
The two works on this disc are essential listening for anyone with even the slightest interest in Steve Reich. For those who don't know the composer, there are perhaps easier places to start - the Music for Mallet Instruments, Octet, Music for 18 Musicians, for instance.
It's now nearly 20 years since these pieces were recorded. Different Trains juxtaposes the Kronos Quartet with taped railway announcements, words overheard on trains, lines relating to train journeys etc. Throughout, there's a true integration of the form, since the strings pick up rhythmic and melodic lines from the spoken words, develop them, amplify them.
Electric Counterpoint is performed on an electric guitar. Pat Metheney plays against pre-recorded tapes to create something like a complex - but surprisingly easy on the ear - fugue (well, canon).
I have one criticism of the disc in that I have always found the recording quality of Different Trains just too much "in the face". It's too close for my liking, but the problem isn't great enough to detract from the playing or the piece.
Rating:
- A key work of 20th Century classical music
I saw the Kronos Quartet perform the British premier of this piece many years ago now, and it was an experience I'll never forget. At the time it seemed to be a radical step for Reich to collaborate in this way, especially on such a sensitive and intensely autobiographical subject, but the end result remains an incredibly powerful work, and one which I am convinced will come to be seen as a high point of late 20th Century classical music.
It is a pity the accompanying piece written for guitarist Pat Metheny (and I speak as a big fan of his own work) is relatively lightweight in comparison, and that's why I've knocked one star off this review.
Rating: - Superb
Musicians have always had a fascination with trains - something about them seems to inspire composers to try and capture the sounds and rhythms of a train journey. Different trains starts in this innocuous sort of vein - dubbed over the percussive railway noises and ubiquitous steam whistle effects are what appear to be wistful, nostalgic reminiscences of train journeys of the past. However, some 6-7 minutes into the piece, the listener is jolted out of this gentle reverie. The tempo is subtly raised, and the dates mentioned by the voices - 1940 - 1941 - suddenly take on a new and chilling resonance.
Before we realise it, we are in Germany of the early 1940's, and we are aware that there is nothing innocent about this ride. Through this section, the sound effects - so simple, just a siren and a whistle - are used with devastating effect. The whistle, raised to a progressively higher note as the intensity rises, ends up almost off the scale. It sounds as if the sound equipment used had trouble reproducing the whistle at such a high pitch, and the resulting tortured, screaming effect creates the indescribable quality that such a narrative demands.
After such an episode, the work's conclusion cannot really help its anti climax. There is really nowhere for it to go, though naturally there is a dead, empty ring to some of the descriptions of postwar America.
This was a dangerous work to write - the risk of trivialising the historical events with melodrama or of being afraid to tackle such a subject head on were immense. Reich rises to the challenge masterfully, and I'm sure that 'Different Trains' will be remembered for many many years to come.
Rating: - And then they stopped playing, and I said 'More, more'...
...and I applauded
It is not unreasonable to consider Different Trains to be Steve Reich's masterpiece. This may even go down in musical history as the pinical of modern American music. Haunting, beautiful, sad and exciting, Different Trains takes the musical style of a brilliant composer and transforms it into a piece of music that has both musical brilliance and emotional profundity. The repetitive sounds of the Kronos Quartet (at the peak of their form, might I add) and the voices of Holocaust survivers make a remarkable piece. The train noises used go from tacky to terrifying, as they are used for the jollity of the North American rail network, to being like the screams of helpless victims. I think that the last movement is the most effective, Reich leaves behind the train motif of the other movements, and the piece winds its way to a haunting and beautiful end.
The other piece on this disc, Electric Counterpoint, makes an interesting, if light weight, supplement. The piece is exceptionally well played and well written, and is genuinly likeable, though it lacks the depth of Different Trains. The first movement is the best, the other movements are less good, but still enjoyable.
The sound on this disk ranges from good to exceptional. Different Trains has a mono quality about it, and seems less polished than Electric Counterpoint. This said, it does not detract in the slightest from the music. The sound on Electric Counterpoint is brilliant, recorded in full blooded stereo. All in all, this is a brilliant, if slightly short, disc that is a must have for everyone with even a slight interest i modern classical music. Seriously reccomended.
Rating: - Probably the best Reich to buy
I have a lot of Steve Reich, and hardly listen to any of it at home - it is very intense and requires a lot of concentration. I would say that I find it more suited to the public performance - it is not background music. However, this has a musicality about it that is engaging and mesmerising.
- A surprising fusionThe two works on this disc are essential listening for anyone with even the slightest interest in Steve Reich. For those who don't know the composer, there are perhaps easier places to start - the Music for Mallet Instruments, Octet, Music for 18 Musicians, for instance.
It's now nearly 20 years since these pieces were recorded. Different Trains juxtaposes the Kronos Quartet with taped railway announcements, words overheard on trains, lines relating to train journeys etc. Throughout, there's a true integration of the form, since the strings pick up rhythmic and melodic lines from the spoken words, develop them, amplify them.
Electric Counterpoint is performed on an electric guitar. Pat Metheney plays against pre-recorded tapes to create something like a complex - but surprisingly easy on the ear - fugue (well, canon).
I have one criticism of the disc in that I have always found the recording quality of Different Trains just too much "in the face". It's too close for my liking, but the problem isn't great enough to detract from the playing or the piece.
Rating:
- A key work of 20th Century classical musicI saw the Kronos Quartet perform the British premier of this piece many years ago now, and it was an experience I'll never forget. At the time it seemed to be a radical step for Reich to collaborate in this way, especially on such a sensitive and intensely autobiographical subject, but the end result remains an incredibly powerful work, and one which I am convinced will come to be seen as a high point of late 20th Century classical music.
It is a pity the accompanying piece written for guitarist Pat Metheny (and I speak as a big fan of his own work) is relatively lightweight in comparison, and that's why I've knocked one star off this review.
Rating:
- SuperbMusicians have always had a fascination with trains - something about them seems to inspire composers to try and capture the sounds and rhythms of a train journey. Different trains starts in this innocuous sort of vein - dubbed over the percussive railway noises and ubiquitous steam whistle effects are what appear to be wistful, nostalgic reminiscences of train journeys of the past. However, some 6-7 minutes into the piece, the listener is jolted out of this gentle reverie. The tempo is subtly raised, and the dates mentioned by the voices - 1940 - 1941 - suddenly take on a new and chilling resonance.
Before we realise it, we are in Germany of the early 1940's, and we are aware that there is nothing innocent about this ride. Through this section, the sound effects - so simple, just a siren and a whistle - are used with devastating effect. The whistle, raised to a progressively higher note as the intensity rises, ends up almost off the scale. It sounds as if the sound equipment used had trouble reproducing the whistle at such a high pitch, and the resulting tortured, screaming effect creates the indescribable quality that such a narrative demands.
After such an episode, the work's conclusion cannot really help its anti climax. There is really nowhere for it to go, though naturally there is a dead, empty ring to some of the descriptions of postwar America.
This was a dangerous work to write - the risk of trivialising the historical events with melodrama or of being afraid to tackle such a subject head on were immense. Reich rises to the challenge masterfully, and I'm sure that 'Different Trains' will be remembered for many many years to come.
Rating:
- And then they stopped playing, and I said 'More, more'......and I applauded
It is not unreasonable to consider Different Trains to be Steve Reich's masterpiece. This may even go down in musical history as the pinical of modern American music. Haunting, beautiful, sad and exciting, Different Trains takes the musical style of a brilliant composer and transforms it into a piece of music that has both musical brilliance and emotional profundity. The repetitive sounds of the Kronos Quartet (at the peak of their form, might I add) and the voices of Holocaust survivers make a remarkable piece. The train noises used go from tacky to terrifying, as they are used for the jollity of the North American rail network, to being like the screams of helpless victims. I think that the last movement is the most effective, Reich leaves behind the train motif of the other movements, and the piece winds its way to a haunting and beautiful end.
The other piece on this disc, Electric Counterpoint, makes an interesting, if light weight, supplement. The piece is exceptionally well played and well written, and is genuinly likeable, though it lacks the depth of Different Trains. The first movement is the best, the other movements are less good, but still enjoyable.
The sound on this disk ranges from good to exceptional. Different Trains has a mono quality about it, and seems less polished than Electric Counterpoint. This said, it does not detract in the slightest from the music. The sound on Electric Counterpoint is brilliant, recorded in full blooded stereo. All in all, this is a brilliant, if slightly short, disc that is a must have for everyone with even a slight interest i modern classical music. Seriously reccomended.
Rating:
- Probably the best Reich to buyI have a lot of Steve Reich, and hardly listen to any of it at home - it is very intense and requires a lot of concentration. I would say that I find it more suited to the public performance - it is not background music. However, this has a musicality about it that is engaging and mesmerising.