#4957, Different Trains, Part 1
Listen to series of works inspired by trains in music by American Minimalist composer Steve Reich, bassist and composer Florent Ghys, and pianist Lara Downes. Plus, classic American tunes by Elizabeth Cotton and Dave Macon.
In 1948, composer, musicologist, engineer, and acoustician Pierre Schaeffer created a piece from the sounds of locomotives, "Etude aux Chemins de Fer" (Study in Locomotives). (He is also a founder of Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète (GRMC), (Wikipedia). The piece consisted of a set of recordings made at the depot for the Gare des Batignolles in Paris: six steam locomotives whistling, trains accelerating, wagons moving over rail joints (Soundartzone). Hear some of American minimalist composer Steve Reich’s work, “Different Trains” for multiple layers of the Kronos Quartet and the sampled voices of Holocaust survivors. The work was inspired by the composer reflecting upon cross-continental train trips he’d made as a youth, and how different those trips would have been had he been a young boy in Europe.
Then, listen to music from bassist and composer Florent Ghys, which explores the interplay between acoustic and electronic instruments and incorporates unexpected samples…like trains! Also, hear American pianist Lara Downes in an arrangement by Jeremy Siskind of the traditional folk tune "900 Miles" – “a song about this insatiable nostalgia we seem to carry, as Americans, for our roots, this longing in our bones to find our way home”, (Lara Downes, writing in the liner notes from This Land). There’s a version of American guitarist Elizabeth Cotten’s greatest hit “Freight Train,” as sung Norwegian singer and occasional songwriter Susanna Wallumrød, and together with baroque harp player Giovanna Pessi, Ida Hidle’s accordion and Tuva Syvertsen’s fiddle. Also, listen to a tune by American songster and banjo player Uncle Dave Macon arranged for electric mbira (thumb piano) by percussionist and songwriter Joachim Cooder. And more. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4957, Different Trains, Part 1 (First aired 12/11/2024)
ARTIST: Pierre Schaeffer
WORK: Etude aux Chemins de Fer(1948) [1:21]
RECORDING: Panorama of Musique Concrete
SOURCE: DTL
INFO: Try Discogs
ARTIST: Steve Reich / Kronos Quartet
WORK: Steve Reich: Different Trains, Different Trains, After the War [10:18]
RECORDING: Works 1965-1995
SOURCE: Nonesuch #79451
INFO: nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Florent Ghys
WORK: Trains [2:51]
RECORDING: Ritournelles and Mosaïques
SOURCE: Cantaloupe Music
INFO: florentghys.com
ARTIST: Edward Artemiev
WORK: Train Sequence [3:16]
RECORDING: Stalker Soundtrack
SOURCE: Superior Viaduct LP
INFO: Also available via Mirumir Records LP at Amazon.com
ARTIST: Bruce Brubaker
WORK: Meredith Monk: Railroad (Travel Song) [2:16]
RECORDING: Meredith Monk: Piano Songs
SOURCE: ECM Records
INFO: https://ecmrecords.com
ARTIST: Robert Een
WORK: Prairie Train [2:46]
RECORDING: The Escape Artist
SOURCE: Private Recording / This performance not commercially available.
INFO: roberteen.com
ARTIST: Dustin O'Halloran
WORK: Train in New York [2:49]
RECORDING: Puzzle OST
SOURCE: Masterworks
INFO: dustinohalloran.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Lara Downes
WORK: 900 Miles [2:53]
RECORDING: This Land
SOURCE: Pentatone
INFO: https://lnk.to/ThisLand
ARTIST: Susanna
WORK: Elizabeth Cotton: Freight Train [3:19]
RECORDING: Go Dig My Grave
SOURCE: SusannaSonata SONATA039
INFO: susannamagical.com
ARTIST: John Fahey
WORK: Frisco Leaving Birmingham [3:30]
RECORDING: John Fahey, Vol. 2, 1964-1983
SOURCE: Takoma #8916
INFO: acerecords.co.uk
ARTIST: Joachim Cooder
WORK: Dave Macon: When the Train Comes Along [6:51]
RECORDING: Live, for the Soundcheck Podcast, Nov. 2020
SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G72Em8AL8JA
INFO: This performance not commercially available.
ARTIST: David Borden
WORK: Fog, Stars, Train, West Hill Lights [2:16]
RECORDING: Cayuga Night Music
SOURCE: Cuneiform Records
INFO: https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/cayuga-night-music
