Pavel Karmanov’s “Different…Rains”: Music for Flute, Piano, and Tape

Steve Reich’s Different Trains for string quartet and tape, composed in 1988, is a seminal work of American minimalism. It is music which is simultaneously in motion and at stasis. On one level, we sense the forward rush of passenger trains connecting New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles during the 1930s. On another level, we can imagine the time-altering hypnotic blur of the incessantly passing countryside from the window.

The Russian composer and alternative rock musician, Pavel Karmanov (b. 1970), is often labeled a post-minimalist. His 1996 work, Different…rains for flute, piano and magnetic tape, surely pays homage, through its title, to Reich’s piece. It sets up a similar dichotomy of motion and stasis. Throughout the piece, interlocking flute and piano lines chase one another against a backdrop of eternally shifting harmony and the recorded sounds of rain. There are echoes of the ambient strains of the German electronic music group, Tangerine Dream.

Recordings

  • Karmanov: Different…rains, Olga Ivusheikova, Alexei Lubimov Amazon

Featured Image: photograph by Joshua Sampson 

About Timothy Judd

A native of Upstate New York, Timothy Judd has been a member of the Richmond Symphony violin section since 2001. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he earned the degrees Bachelor of Music and Master of Music, studying with world renowned Ukrainian-American violinist Oleh Krysa.

The son of public school music educators, Timothy Judd began violin lessons at the age of four through Eastman’s Community Education Division. He was a student of Anastasia Jempelis, one of the earliest champions of the Suzuki method in the United States.

A passionate teacher, Mr. Judd has maintained a private violin studio in the Richmond area since 2002 and has been active coaching chamber music and numerous youth orchestra sectionals.

In his free time, Timothy Judd enjoys working out with Richmond’s popular SEAL Team Physical Training program.

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