Steve Reich's opus of memory.

American Composers Orchestra presents Different Trains. Wed., Oct. 8, at Carnegie Hall. 154 W. 57th St., (7th Ave.), 212-247-7800 It's not surprising that a number of composers has found a muse in the locomotive. It is, after all, our most inherently musical form of transportation, with its rhythmic drive and plentitude of musical accoutrements, not least the shouting of the conductor and wail of the whistle. The romantic notion of the railroad is also deeply embedded in American folklore, making it a stock symbol for many U.S. artists. Of it, Walt Whitman wrote, "Type of the modern?emblem of motion and power?pulse of the continent." And one of the great moments in American music theater, the opening of The Music Man, introduced rap to the world 22 years before the Sugarhill Gang released "Rapper's Delight," all based on the relentless throbbing of a Midwest train full of salesmen.

Just last year, I came across a recording dedicated to new compositions inspired by trains. It wasn't that the works were severely flawed or played poorly; it's just that since 1988, the world has had no need for any more musical works derived from train imagery. Why? Well, it was on Nov. 2, 1988, when the Kronos Quartet premiered Steve Reich's Different Trains at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Shortly after, the legendary recording was released by Nonesuch. And while works like Come Out, It's Gonna Rain, Drumming, and Music for 18 Musicians announced the arrival of a visionary composer, Different Trains confirmed Reich's status as one of the great masters of Western music history.

The piece, for strings and prerecorded tape, juxtaposes Reich's memories of traveling the rails from Los Angeles to New York as a child, splitting time between separated parents, with the experiences of European Jews who during that same time period were being shoved into cattle cars and taken to Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Dachau. Sampling interviews with his governess, who accompanied him on the cross-country journeys, an American porter, and three Holocaust victims, the work is anchored around unsettling snippets of dialogue.

Different Trains brings together three separate musical threads that have informed much of Reich's work, namely repetitive melodic cells that undergo slow metamorphoses, an exploration of his Jewish heritage and his signature technique that has instruments mimicking natural speech patterns.

Reich succeeds with his train-inspired piece where others have failed, because his natural musical language was already so closely intertwined with the churning of a train's wheels, the unremitting pulse of his music projecting an eerie brightness. At any moment, the infectious joy of Reich's music is capable of spiraling into the darkest depths, and it is this attribute that lends an unfathomable depth to a work that deals with a number of overexposed topics.

Although Reich is the quintessential New York composer, Different Trains has never been performed live in the city. On Wednesday night, the American Composers Orchestra under the direction of Steven Sloane will change that with its season opener at Carnegie Hall. While the original was scored for string quartet and electronic tape part, this arrangement is for string orchestra minus double basses and the tape part, which will offer an interesting contrast to the spare quartet version that most are accustomed to.

Along with the New York premiere of Different Trains, the orchestra will be performing Alan Hovhaness' enigmatic The Holy City, John Adams' early work Christian Zeal and Activity, Charles Wuorinen's joyous (yes, Wuorinen can be joyous) Grand Bamboula, Irving Fine's lyric Serious Song: Lament for String Orchestra, and a world premiere by young composer Anna Weesner, making this concert one of the most appealing, if emotionally laden, programs the ACO has offered in quite some time.