Reich: Different Trains, Electric Counterpoint / Kronos Quartet, Pat Metheny

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Different Trains (1988) will probably go down in history as Reich's masterpiece. And deservedly so. Reich's phase-shifting minimalism is made dazzlingly entertaining in Different Trains, which is scored for string quartet and digitally sampled voices that repeat bits of speech concerning trains and Reich's experience with them growing up. The sinister part here is than some trains carried Jews to death camps. That's here as well. The Kronos Quartet has also never sounded better. Electric Counterpoint (1987) has one guitar--Pat Metheny in this case-- playing to 10 pre-recorded motifs, also on guitar. You absolutely need this. --Paul Cook

Tracks:

Different Trains: America - Before the War
Different Trains: Europe - During The War
Different Trains: After the War
Electric Counterpoint: Fast
Electric Counterpoint: Electric Counterpoint: Slow
Electric Counterpoint: Fast

Amazon.com essential recording

Different Trains (1988) will probably go down in history as Reich's masterpiece. And deservedly so. Reich's phase-shifting minimalism is made dazzlingly entertaining in Different Trains, which is scored for string quartet and digitally sampled voices that repeat bits of speech concerning trains and Reich's experience with them growing up. The sinister part here is than some trains carried Jews to death camps. That's here as well. The Kronos Quartet has also never sounded better. Electric Counterpoint (1987) has one guitar--Pat Metheny in this case-- playing to 10 pre-recorded motifs, also on guitar. You absolutely need this. --Paul Cook

Customer Reviews:

highly worthwhile.......2006-12-15

Different trains a very powerful piece, full of irony and juxtopostion that are used to the greatest effect. Its one of Reich's best, but it's actually not very minimalist for him, which may be why I like it. Of course, Kronos does an excellent job. Electric Counterpoint is pleasant for about a movement or so, but in the end it comes across as thin and dull compared to Different Trains.

Excellent First Reich Disc.......2005-12-04

Both pieces on this disc are delightful and brilliant - very emotional and accessible I find. Neither has the vast (Well-tempered klavier of percussive phase-shifting!) scale of _18 Musicians_ or _Drumming_, but that's almost certainly an advantage for most people (and has been for me). Just two quick comments about the pieces:
1. Holocaust themes in art are often ponderous... "Different Trains" ingeniously avoids all sorts of traps of that sort by starting us off, as it were, in the New World with technology and optimism. The darkness enters later and is all the more powerful for it. Now I think about it, this piece makes the disc a great gift for a precocious kid... if they like Pink Floyd or other broadly conceptual rock stuff they'll dig this.
2. The second "slow" movement of "Electric Counterpoint" is flat out gorgeous.

Spectacular Aural Imagery!!.......2005-05-12

I was very fortunate to hear the Kronos Quartet perform this up in Orono, Maine (at the University of Maine) the year this CD was released. Not being familiar with either Reich, the piece, or the KQ at the time, I was completely blown out of the water by the uniqueness of the idea, the emotion of the narrative, and the jarring comparison between Reich's life and the lives of so many others. Several jazz perfomers have tried similar "voice-matching" techiniques--Victor Wooten and Jason Moran, most recently--but hearing a child's message on an answering machine replayed on the bass guitar does not match the emotional impact of the narrative Reich provides. It is such an abstract notion with such concrete results. Kronos is impeccable in their performance, as usual, and they provide the flair and brass needed to pull off such a feat. I played this CD (along with Gorecki's Symphony #3) every year in my Holocaust class for juniors and seniors in high school. They are as blown away by the whole concept as I originally was. It is a technically impressive and emotionally draining experience.

Electric Counterpoint is, quite sadly, the overlooked portion of this CD for me. I am a huge Pat Metheny fan, but I look to his other CDs for his best work. I know it is my loss. . . .

Bottom Line: Whether or not you like Steve Reich and/or the Kronos Quartet, you need to give this CD a listen--it is a challenge and a delight.

not his best but worth a listen.......2004-02-28

Steve Reich can be undigestable at times and not the easiest of composers to listen to, it's as if your listening to a record with the needle sticking to the groove with very little developement...so it's safe to say that you certainly have to be in a certain mood to appreciate this kind of music but it does have it's rewards. The c.d is divided up into two sections, "Different Trains" with the Kronos Quartet as good as usual. The momentum of the music depicts the progression of trains through out America and Europe and what they represent, human voices reciting historical dates.
The second work on the disc "Electric Counterpoint" almost seems as though it doesn't belong on the same disc but it's in my opinion the diamond in the rough. I have been a Pat Metheny fan long before Steve Reich and it's the main driving point in owning the disc, brilliant guitar playing.

The Fastest Train.......2004-02-18

This album is great, yep. It's neat. What are you expecting when you say things like, "for me this album just doesn't cut it." That says nothing about Reich's work. It only says that you could not connect with what he is doing. It's a shame too, because Reich does some very nice work on this album - The Fastest train, on the fastest train. It's so very entertaining - he does such a good job of putting all of that material together. Stow you tastes and opinions away then listen again - maybe you'll actually hear Steve Reich's music.

Music Review:

Music Review

music review

Music Review

Night Attack [Import]

Journey Through Dalmatia

Kalamos Clarinet Quartet

Country Greats, Vol. 1

Home from Home [Import]

Led Zeppelin II

Jazz Farm [Explicit Lyrics]

Encontro Do Samba [Import]

La Cobra

Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ

Avignon-Last Concert