In 1978, John Cage staged an improvised concert on a train. The performance took a route around central Italy and lasted two days. This recreation, staged by the Huddersfield Contemporary Music festival, takes 90 minutes and only goes as far as Stalybridge, though that is quite far enough to make its point.

Cage described the concept as "looking for the lost silence", which, as his most celebrated composition 4'33'' proves, is impossible to find, particularly on trains. The performance, led by Alvin Curran, ramps up the ambient noise of the 19.30 departure by blasting out recordings of train sounds from around the world, while the musicians occupy seats in among the passengers.

The confined space of a crowded commuter carriage brings a claustrophobic edge to the performance – a man seated opposite suddenly begins to make bizarre, gargling noises. One assumes he is a musician rather than an anguished patron. And the usual irritations of iPods and mobile-phone conversations seem insignificant compared to the physical pain of someone performing random improvisations on a trombone.

Cage took a Zen approach towards boredom: "If something is boring for two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, try it for 8, 16, 32 and so on." The train recital seems to demand that you give it another couple of miles, then a few more, in the hope that something genuinely arresting or innovative will happen. Rather unfortunately, the performers assemble, still playing, in the Victorian buffet at Stalybridge station beneath a reproduction of the wartime railway poster that asks "Is Your Journey Really Necessary?" It's a very good question.