for saxophone quartet and piano
This work emerged alongside research into political music and refrains, and was inspired by discussions with Georg Friedrich Haas — during several months of private study in 2025. In its latter stages, the piece came together quickly after a conversation with Matthew Shlomowitz, whose article on neo-classicism was also thought-provoking.
Performed by New Thread Quartet:
Jonathan Hulting-Cohen, soprano saxophone
Noa Even, alto saxophone
Erin Rogers, tenor saxophone
Zach Herchen, baritone saxophone
Eliana Fishbeyn, piano
Recorded 24 April 2026, Philadelphia
Recording: Rec.Today / Alexey Alexandrov
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https://www.tso.com.au/news/for-composer-joseph-franklin-a-piece-of-music-is-never-done
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In collaboration with artist Tina Stefanou and editor Jack Coventry, I composed a 26-minute piece in quadraphonic & sub (LFE) for Stefanou's reworking of her film Hym(e)nals.
The work will be shown continuously throughout the Biennale, in a freestanding, purpose-built structure.
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Album link: https://josephfranklin.bandcamp.com/album/the-horror-of-the-avant-garde-s
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It was premiered and recorded in Narrm in 2023, conducted by Elliott Gyger, with featured soloists Marc Hannaford (piano) and Satoshi Takeishi (percussion), and performed by Laila Engle (flutes), Luke Carbon (clarinets), Jasper Ly (oboe/cor anglais), Callum G'Froerer (double-bell trumpet), Benjamin Anderson (double-bell bass trombone), Louise Devenish (percussion), Melina van Leeuwen (harp), Joseph Franklin (contrabass guitar/harmonium), Sophia Kirsanova (violin), Phoebe Green (viola), and Anna Pokorny (cello).
https://www.newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue/joseph-franklin-the-horror-of-the-avant-garde-s/
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April 01, 2026
Abstract:
THE DANGER OF THE REFRAIN: how art can unintentionally support things that the artist did not intend
"Art can unintentionally support things that the artist did not intend." Composer Georg Friedrich Haas's warning becomes urgently concrete when we trace the afterlife of Which Side Are You On? (1931).
Written by Florence Reece during the Harlan County coal miners' strike—after armed deputies raided her home searching for her union organizer husband—the song has traveled far beyond its origins. Nearly a century later, its simple refrain circulates through labor strikes, civil rights movements, anti-fascist organizing, concert halls, and corporate media.
Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari's concept of the refrain as territorial marker, I trace how Which Side Are You On? deterritorializes and reterritorializes across struggles—from the SNCC Freedom Singers to Billy Bragg's miners' strike anthem, from Frederic Rzewski's piano variations to The Homobiles' queer anti-fascist version, and finally to HBO's Succession, where a workers' anthem becomes emotional underscore for a billionaire's heir.
I distinguish between reterritorializations that maintain material stakes and name concrete enemies and those that reduce political struggle to aesthetic contemplation. The paper asks: What must remain intact for a political refrain to resist becoming generic struggle ambience? And how do we, as composers and scholars, track what our refrains are doing when they leave home—who they're interpellating, and on whose behalf?
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February 24, 2026
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January 13, 2026
Tina Stefanou - voice and safety whistle
Joseph Franklin - contrabass guitar and artefacts
December 2025 at Rose Hall, University of Pennsylvania
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This conversation was built on the materials from my solo album a thousand tiny mutinies (2024) and was performed in quadraphonic sound, with spatialised electronics, bass(es), and percussion.
Recorded live at The Quadraphonic Club, Brunswick. Released 15 October 2025:
https://josephfranklin.bandcamp.com/album/064-a-thousand-tiny-mutinies-live
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