Skip to main content

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.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure

 Sarah Kumar Dr. Bernd Herzogenrath The Future of (American) Music 06 Mar. 2023 Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure According to John Oswald, “[a] plunderphone is a recognizable sonic quote, using the actual sound of something familiar which has already been recorded” (Lecture Slides 18). However, only if the source stays recognizable can it be called plunderphonics. In his album Plexure , several songs are played back and mixed together, thus creating a new sound. This is interesting because while the excerpts of songs that are used are recognizable or at least sound familiar to some degree, played backwards and mashed up as they are in Plexure , they create a new sound. Like on the cover of the album, on which a collage making up a man can be seen, the mixing of different songs played backwards gives a new feeling to something known. The way the songs are mixed makes them unintelligible. The meaning of the words of the original recordings are not able to be compr...
Post a Comment
Read more

John Cage – Inlets

  This does not sound like music to me. Depending on the interpretation of different players or performers, this piece will always sound different. In this case, it sounds to me like someone is walking through a cave with water at the bottom, dragging their feet through it. Sometimes it sounds like water in a toilet bowl, especially when we hear the water in a bigger shell being swished around. These sounds are relaxing in the background, it is like a gentle stream of water. I just wonder what went through the head of the composer while writing this piece. But I guess he had some experimental ideas that are interesting to try out. Those shells are quite pretty, I have never seen such big ones that are not broken. I was surprised when something else happened towards the end of the piece. That tone which came out of the one shell was so clear, it sounded like a trumpet. I didn’t know that shells can sound like that. It was quite beautiful. It was a nice way to end the piece. I di...
Post a Comment
Read more

William Basinski – The Disintegration Loops III

  The Disintegration Loops is a quartet of albums published in 2002 and 2003 by American avant-garde composer William Basinski. The pieces are made up of tape loop recordings that were played over time, with noise and crackles rising as the tape deteriorated. Basinski noticed this effect when attempting to convert his older recordings to digital format. The completion of the recordings coincided with the September 11, 2001 events, which Basinski witnessed and adds a deeper meaning to the composition. The composition is fascinating in many ways and makes the listener lose track of time. The tape loop recording had a very calming effect on me and put me in a trance-like state when I listened to it in its entirety. The tape loop is really soothing, so much so that I didn't even notice the loss of quality when I first listened to it. It makes you forget about time and allows you to really get into the piece capturing the calmness it exudes. You forget or don't really notice how i...
Post a Comment
Read more