Stephen Michael Reich created is an American composer who is known for his important role in the development of minimal music in the 1960s. Minimal music describes a form of music or compositions that are with limited or minimal musical materials.
Reich’s
play “Different Trains” contains very simple instrumental sounds combined with
train sounds and speech. Recorded speech, such as “from Chicago to New York”,
“from Los Angeles to New York” and “different trains” is incorporated into the
play. These speech sounds are very common during train rides.
“Different
trains” is a play that describes Reich’s experiences of traveling by train
between New York and Los Angeles during World War 2. Therefore, the play is
also divided into segments.
The
first segment (minutes 0 - 9/10 of the play) portrays the time before the war
and Reich traveling through America back and forth between New York and Los
Angeles.
The
second segment (minutes 9/10 - 16 of the play) portray the time during the war
in Europe. This segment seems more dramatic than the segment before.
The
last segment (minutes 17 - end of the play) portray the time after the war.
Each
segment is introduced by violins and cellos. Very characteristic of this play
is that there is not a huge variation in the instruments. The play is very
minimalistic
regarding
the instruments but the recorded sounds and speech add variation to the play
and make it very different.
The
instrumental music makes the play highly dramatic without needing much
variation in the instruments. Additionally, the visuals also add to the
dramatic character of the play.
The
instrumental music, speech sounds and train sounds create an atmosphere in
which the listeners are able to feel like experiencing this train ride that
Reich tries to recreate. The play feels like a story being told, especially
because of the added sounds and speeches, and the division into the different
segments. Because of that, the play does not become boring even though it is
quite long.
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