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Listening report: Steve Reich

Stephen Michael Reich is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. His work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich sees music as a gradual process as he once said and he is interested in perceptible processes. He wants to be able to hear the process happening throughout the sounding music.

 

Reich´s work “Different trains“ is truly something different. In fact, it is a new way of recording which needed a lot of preparation in advance. He did the following to prepare as he writes on his website (Source 1):

 

1.Record my governess Virginia, then in her seventies, reminiscing about our train trips             together.

2.Record a retired Pullman porter, Lawrence Davis, then in his eighties, who used to ride lines between New York and Los Angeles, reminiscing about his life.

3.Collect recordings of Holocaust survivors Rachella, Paul and Rachel, all about my age and then living in America—speaking of their experiences.

4.Collect recorded American and European train sounds of the ‘30s and ‘40s.

 

To create his work, Steve transferred the speech samples and the train sound to tape with the use of sampling keyboards and a computer. Various trains were used to gain the train sound.

 

 “Different trains“ begins with fast violins and the first voice is added. At minute 1:05 there is a shift where the melody gets slower and a woman’s voice is added. Following, there is a pause of speech and the violins are getting faster again when the voice returns. The rhythm is very hectic which makes me feel nervous and the work less enjoyable. But the art of morphing all the sounds together makes up for the nervousness it gives me. In the work alternations of fast and slow sounds are used. At minute 4:28 the sound of the train is added which changes the piece tremendously by giving it a deeper meaning.

 

 

 

Sources:

1. https://stevereich.com

2. From the Reader, Music as a Gradual Process by Steve Reich (1968)

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