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Quatuor Bozzini: Different Trains

Wayside Music, 1 janvier 2007

Excellent 27’-long disc with the last Steve Reich work that I’ve heard that I would consider a masterpiece. “A major opus in Reich’s body of work, Different Trains pioneered in 1988 a new form of composition developed from his earlier tape pieces It’s Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966). The idea for the piece came from Reich’s childhood. His parents separated when he was one year old. His mother moved to Los Angeles, while his father stayed in New York. Since they had arranged divided custody, he often traveled back and forth between those two cities, with his governess, in the years 1939-42. He composed the piece keeping in mind that, as a Jew, he would have found himself in a different situation had he been living in Europe at the time. The work consists of a prerecorded tape assembled from the voices of various people reminiscing about the Holocaust, sounds of American and European trains from the 30s and 40s, and three different string quartets. In addition to the tape is a fourth string quartet part for a live quartet. Quatuor Bozzini decided to offer a new reading of the work, including its very own recording of the three taped string quartets, a first ever since the premiere 1988 recording of the work, by the Kronos Quartet. Quatuor Bozzini embarked on this new reading after being advised to do so by Steve Reich himself. Quatuor Bozzini’s Different Trains turns a new page in the history of contemporary music. It provides a new landmark.”

Le Quatuor Bozzini écrit une nouvelle page de l’histoire de la musique contemporaine avec Different Trains. Il nous donne un nouveau point de repère.
