Day 19: Different Trains, Every Day

Different Trains, by Steve Reich.

Oh, god, this is a difficult piece. This is even more difficult than The Robots.

There's a fear, a tension, uncertainty; mimicking voices, and trying to portray the sounds of a train. It's a brilliant piece, but...

Okay. Trains. Someone running away? It was written during the 2nd World War, I think, so that would be appropriate.

So a young, idealistic man runs from Germany, to escape conscription. He doesn't believe in what the Nazis proscribe, and wants no part in it. He has left everything behind, and doesn't know where he's going--just that he feels in his gut that he needs to leave.

He has a tendency to repeat himself, following the pattern of the music. I actually want him to repeat the phrase "different trains, every day"...

It begins with him sitting in the carriage, and someone has asked him where he's going. He says he doesn't know.

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