Commissioned by the National Youth Orchestra in 1978, The Railway Station is a symphonic poem inspired by the poem of the 19th century Canadian poet Archibald Lampman (1861-1899), one of Canada's leading poets of the time. Morawetz had already used this same poem more than 10 years earlier as the setting for one of his Two Contrasting Moods, a choral work.

Written in sectional form, the work contrasts rhythmic passages featuring the brass and percussion with slower meditations scored for the woodwinds and strings. A final pensive section forms a subdued coda to the entire short work.

From the formal point of view this work could be summarized by the letters: A B A1 B1 A2. The music depicts the main two contrasting moods of the poem.

The "A" and "A1" sections represent the restless, nervous rhythm and noise of the approaching and departing trains. They are written in a lively tempo full of rhythmical vitality, with a special importance for the colours of the trumpets, trombones and tuba, and percussion. They are both written in a steadily growing crescendo until the dynamic climax is reached at the arrival of the locomotive at the station. After the climax, the sound of the engine and the wheels slowly diminishes, as the train moves away and disappears.

The "B" and "Bl" sections are slow and melancholic, suggesting Lampman's words "so many mournful eyes... what passionate dreams, dark distresses, unknown thoughts and various agonies!" In the composer's own imagination these exclamations refer to the sad feelings of people watching their friends leave, and their own unfulfilled dreams of starting a new life in some distant land. Both "B" sections strongly contrast in orchestral colouring the preceding "A" parts; the sadness is expressed by melodies in the woodwinds and by the rather unusual combination of harp and vibraphone. They are accompanied by muted violins and the soft mellow sound of the glockenspiel. Not only the heavy brass but also the cellos and basses are absent.

The transition from "A" to "B" is gradual. We can hear the sobbing melodies of the english horn and clarinet (starting the slow section) combined with a repeated rhythmic pattern of three solo basses picturing the diminishing far-away sound of the train.

The last "A" section ("A2") is only a few bars long and concludes the composition with a pianissimo; contrary to the restless mood of the two preceding "A" sections, it is slow, and the brass instruments are muted. It is as if the sad thoughts of the people at the station were interrupted once more by the puffing locomotive, the only very distant sound in the deep silence of the night.

Program Notes from Oct. 13, 1981 Toronto Symphony program by Godfrey Ridout:

Like the poem, the music deals with two things - the trains and the people. The work opens with music that suggests the sounds of the trains. As a train departs "into the bourneless night" the mood of the music gradually changes and the tempo slackens into a slow section that reflects the mood of the lines quoted above. This section especially makes extensive use of solo wind instruments; there are felicitous combinations of instrumental timbres, harp and vibraphone for example. Train sounds again intrude and the pace quickens. The short coda refers back to the second section and ends with the train sounds receding into the night.