eMusic Review 0
Steve Reich, Pulitzer Prize winner and by general acclamation one of the most influential composers of our time, is not a big fan of the orchestra — an ensemble created to play music of an earlier time. He's not even a fan of his own music being played by an orchestral complement of strings, much preferring the leaner, more nimble sound of a group with single strings. However, he did give conductor David Robertson the go-ahead with this recording, which takes one of Reich's masterworks, Different Trains, and his later Triple Quartet, into the orchestral realm. This makes sense: Both pieces were originally composed for a live Kronos Quartet playing along to two other pre-recorded Kronos Quartets. With 12 strings already in use, the step up to a full orchestra has not altered either work significantly.
Different Trains remains a taut, emotional rollercoaster through the very different realities of a young Jewish boy riding trains in America or in Europe during World War II. The piece is built around short vocal samples (from American train porters, Holocaust survivors, and more) which drive the melodies of the strings. The reharmonized return in "After The War" to material first heard in "Before The… read more »
