On the southbound platform of the B, D, F, M at West 4th Street this evening, a man was playing one of Bach's partitas for unaccompanied cello. My friend L and I lingered a bit, then walked down past him toward our end of the platform. An M train roared into the station, and when it rattled away, the cello had been joined by a violin, and the
suite had ceded place to the Air on a G-String. We craned to listen as a northbound D train pulled in to the platform opposite, only to find the music change again as what seemed a very loud and rather off-key viola joined the ensemble. Very off-key. It took a while to realize that it was in fact the train, straining, as they sometimes do, against its brakes.
