City Life (1995)

A work for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two vibraphones, percussion of indeterminate pitch, two samplers, two pianos, string quartet and double bass. The digital samplers play back very diversified material, among other things recordings of the voice of Reich himself, as well as New York street noises – sounds of horns, pile drivers, the human heart, pneumatic brakes, car alarms, Metro signals and ship sirens. As in Different Trains, these samples are a point of departure for the melodies executed by the instruments. The composition is comprised of five movements: Check it out, Pile driver/alarms, It's been a honeymoon – can’t take no mo’, Heartbeats/boats and buoys and Heavy smoke. The world première of the work, which was written on commission from Ensemble Modern, the London Sinfonietta and Ensemble intercontemporain, took place in March 1995.