Refuse Collection (2017)
(for ensemble)

Refuse Collection is a 12–minute composition for large ensemble that refers to Schoenberg’s Begleitungsmusik zu einer Lichtspielscene as reflected through the rhythmic and metric structure of J. H. Prynne’s poem “Refuse Collection” (2004). The nature of “Refuse Collection” suggests the recuperation of discarded materials as “waste” through a discontinuous montage of musical fragments all based on Schoenberg’s music but whose nature is informed by the rhythm and meter of Prynne’s poem. This prismatic transformation of Schoenberg’s expressionist musical language under strict rhythmic and metric compositional conditions resists assimilation into readily understood continuities, producing a complex and tightly structured musical composition.