Railway Street, on Vancouver’s waterfront, is where I first heard the music of King Crimson, its pulse spiraling, disorienting, slippery, beyond fast or slow—an effect I later encountered in Japanese Noh music and certain pieces of Takemitsu.

Railway Street was first performed on 3 November 1991 by the Vancouver New Music Ensemble, conducted by Owen Underhill, with Lori Freedman, bass clarinet. It was commissioned by CBC Stereo’s “Two New Hours”.