Different Trains

Two minimalist masterpieces send us hurtling across America and Europe by road and rail in the latest instalment of our concert series featuring Opera North musicians.

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John Adams covers an astonishing amount of ground in the three short movements of his Road Movies. The propulsive playing in the first and last movements, with its splintered shards of bluegrass and folk, contrasts with a lyrical central section that evokes the wide open spaces of Aaron Copland: Adams describes it as “a solitary figure in an empty desert landscape”. In his notes on the work he also admits that it’s “very difficult” for the players, but reassures the listener: “Relax, and leave the driving to us”.

Steve Reich’s milestone Different Trains take us from the New World to the Old World and back again, offering a fleeting window on the pleasures and horrors of the twentieth century. A key work in his “speech melody” technique, it embeds short snatches of archive recordings within the ferocious playing of a string quartet.

In the first movement, ‘America — Before the War’, Reich’s governess can be heard in conversation with a railway porter, reminiscing about train travel against a background of American train sounds. In the second movement, ‘Europe — During the War’, Holocaust survivors speak about their experiences, including train journeys to concentration camps, as European train sounds and sirens are heard. The third movement features the voices from the first and second parts talking about the post-war years, as the sounds of American railways return.