Different Trains (1988)

A work for string quartet and tape, comprised of three movements: America – Before the War, Europe – During the War and After the War. It links Reich’s childhood memories of train trips on the route between New York and Los Angeles with reflections on the victims of the Holocaust, who were at the same time being transported in death trains to the camps in Europe. Here, for the first time, the composer utilized speech as a source of melodic material: recorded fragments of statements are a point of departure for melodies executed by instruments. The tape also contains train, alarm siren and railway bell noises, as well as looped instrumental modules played back at differing speeds. The voices appearing in the work come from conversations with Reich’s governess and a retired railway sleeper car service employee, from the reminiscences of persons traveling on American trains, as well as from interviews with Jewish Holocaust survivors. In 1990, the composition was honored with a Grammy award for best classical music work.