Steve Reich - Kronos Quartet / Pat Metheny – Different Trains / Electric Counterpoint (Vinyl)

This late '80s work finds the minimalist composer, Steve Reich, mixing acoustic and taped material to great effect.

The disc's centerpiece is "Different Trains," a work that frames Reich's impressions of his boyhood train trips between his mother in Los Angeles and his father in New York; Reich also intersperses references to the much more harrowing train rides Jews were forced to take to Nazi concentration camps.

Using the fine playing of the Kronos Quartet as a base, Reich layers the work with the taped train musings of his governess and vintage train sounds from the '30s and '40s.

For some nice contrast, Reich recruits guitarist Pat Metheny to create a similarly momentous piece in "Electric Counterpoint" on which Metheny plays live over a multi-tracked tape of ten guitars and two electric basses.

Two fine works by Reich in his prime.

Tracklist:
Kronos Quartet Different Trains
A1 – 1. America, Before The War 8:59
A2 – 2. Europe, During The War 7:31
A3 – 3. After The War 10:20
Pat Metheny Electric Counterpoint
B1 – 1. Fast 6:51
B2 – 2. Slow 3:21
B3 – 3. Fast 4:29