Steve Reich: Different Trains
Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast
Joshua Weilerstein
4.9 • 2.5K Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Steve Reich, the great American contemporary composer, provided this program note about his work Different Trains: "The idea for the piece came from my childhood. When I was one year old my parents separated. My singer, song-writer mother moved to Los Angeles and my attorney father stayed in New York. Since they arranged divided custody, I travelled back and forth by train frequently between New York and Los Angeles from 1939 to 1942 accompanied by my governess. While the trips were exciting and romantic at the time I now look back and think that, if I had been in Europe during this period, as a Jew I would have had to ride very different trains. With this in mind I wanted to make a piece that would accurately reflect the whole situation."
Reich went about this piece in a completely innovative way: he recorded voices and then created the musical material for the piece out of the voices themselves, something that had never been done before. Therefore, the text and music material were integrated in a groundbreaking way, and the results are at times unbearably moving. This is a piece that has captured listeners attention in a way that is relatively rare for contemporary music, and it is a piece of immense power and depth. I have always been fascinated by this piece and have wanted to perform an orchestral version of it, but I never have been able to cover it on the show. That is, until AJ contributed enough to my fundraiser last year before the election to sponsor a piece, and he chose Reich's Different Trains. Today we'll talk a bit about Steve Reich generally for those of you unfamiliar with him, and then we'll tackle this remarkable and unique piece in all of its creativity and profound communication. Join us!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | As our lives become busier and more complicated than ever, we could all use an escape here and there. |
| 0:04.8 | That's why WDAV Classical Public Radio has curated a classical oasis that's a tap away anytime you need it. |
| 0:13.3 | At the WDAV mobile app, you can stream WDAV's 24-7 classical music programming on demand from wherever you are. |
| 0:22.3 | Check out past episodes of shows that celebrate classical music's remarkable diversity, |
| 0:27.2 | like Noteworthy, and WDAV's bilingual program, Concerto. |
| 0:32.5 | You'll also get access to a great variety of podcast episodes, blog articles, and more that shine a spotlight on the |
| 0:39.2 | music and arts you love. Download the WDAV mobile app now at WDAV.org slash app. Or if you're in |
| 0:48.2 | the Charlotte, North Carolina area, tune your radio to 89.9 FM. Take a deep breath and enjoy. |
| 1:07.8 | Hello and welcome to Sticky Notes, the Classical Music Podcast. |
| 1:11.1 | My name is Joshua Weilerstein. |
| 1:12.7 | I'm a conductor, and I'm the music director of the Orchestra Nacional de Lille, |
| 1:16.3 | and the chief conductor of the Allborg Symphony. |
| 1:19.2 | This podcast is for anyone who loves classical music, works in the field, |
| 1:23.1 | or is just getting ready to dive in to this amazing world of incredible music. |
| 1:27.5 | Before we get started, I want to thank my new Patreon sponsors, Michael, Corbinian, and James, |
| 1:33.0 | and all of my other Patreon sponsors for making Season 10 possible. |
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| 1:51.2 | So I've just returned from Allborg after a really special performance of Brahms' Requiem. |
| 1:56.3 | This was the very first time I've ever done the piece, and it was really meaningful. |
| 2:01.5 | It's obviously a meaningful piece in so many different ways, but it was especially meaningful to do it for the very |
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