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Childhood Train Trips Sparked The Piece
- Steve Reich rode cross-country trains with his nanny between his divorced parents in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
- Those childhood trips and memories of dining cars and landscapes sparked the initial idea for Different Trains.
Personal Memory Meets Historical Tragedy
- Reich realised the historical context of his childhood trains overlapped with the rise of Hitler and the Holocaust, creating a powerful contrast.
- That contrast became a central conceptual and emotional driver for Different Trains.
Recording Virginia To Capture Speech Melody
- Reich recorded conversations with his longtime nanny Virginia because her melodic older voice fit his musical aims.
- He used those recordings as source material to shape the string quartet melodies in the first movement.