Steve Reich – Different Trains

 

American minimalist composer Steve Reich wrote that three-movement piece for the string instruments and tape. From the beginning to the end, this innovative piece demonstrates the musical repercussions of some pre-recorded tapes, including some interviews with the people who experienced World War II. The shifts between the three movements of the music are genuinely smooth. One of the artists' roles in society is to pay attention to the aftermath of disasters of epic or small proportions. Steve Reich transferred the feelings and reactions before, during, and after the war to music in a documenting way. Toward the end of the first movement and the beginning of the second, hearing the sirens of wartime in the background, accompanied by the dramatic play of the strings, gave me shivers.

In the second movement of the piece, the uneasiness is created by the tense execution of the strings as well as by the repeating voice in the background. The tapes used in the second movement provide the words of the interviewees unclearly, which are combined with the interwoven sounds of sirens and instruments. Here, what I have felt was the extreme chaos that happened during the war, a very touchy way to get a glimpse of what a war is like. Reich used a strong interpretation of wartime by capitalizing upon the actual recordings since the realistic components constantly are flung up in people’s faces in situations such as wars.

Lastly, in the third movement of the piece, we are exposed to the tapes consisting of the interviewees’ voices in a much more precise direction. It depicts the post-war period of the United States, which is also seen in the music being more reflective than in the previous two movements. The piece ends with the performance of the strings only without any involvement of the tape recordings, making the listener feel nostalgic about the pre-war period of time.