Assembly Lines
for chamber orchestra
commissioned by the Detour Music Ensemble
Assembly Lines (2011) was commissioned by the Detour New Music Ensemble. The work can be optionally accompanied by live video projections of factory footage from the Prelinger Archives. After a brief, yet clangorous fanfare, a solo bassoon unveils the work’s “conveyor belt” theme. Not unlike Ford’s automobile assembly line, the ensemble appends this tune with a series of interchangeable motifs, which hammer and thrash the musical texture in an intricate web of syncopation and orchestral color. The Model T is born.
