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Mr.
CutTime
- Rick Robinson
Following the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO)
premiere in 2006 of his
"accidental" symphonic score Essay
(After
Sibelius), Detroit Free Press music
critic Mark Stryker called
DSO bassist Rick Robinson "an armchair composer with
promise and a taste for fleshy romantic
textures and orchestration." Consequently
Robinson (bio)
began to pursue composing seriously in his spare time.
His early work is
imitative of the many great composers he has transcribed
for his mixed ensemble CutTime
Players. Yet his skill with traditional
subjects, lush counterpoint,
and modified development create considerable dramatic and emotional impact. Jovial yet
private there is
much of Robinson in his music's wide range of
feeling, flowing easily between deep crisis and ecstasy. One
often wishes he would extend his ideas a
bit, but at least he keeps
them moving right along.
A one-time
regular with the Boston Pops and a 22-year veteran of the DSO, Robinson is a
relative latecomer to composing. Yet with
considerable experiences as an orchestra
musician, solo recitalist, transcriber,
publisher and
ensemble leader,
he seems dedicated to creating emotionally
rich experiences for both players and
audiences. Judging from his Essay and
other works so far, there's no doubt that
we can expect him to eventually produce expansive
symphonic works.
Listen to these
SAMPLES
from
a 2009 performance by Chamber
Music North of
his first sextet album MIGHTY
LOVE. Premiered in 2007, Mighty
Love is a musical romance told in the best harmonic traditions of
Richard Strauss, Dvorak, Brahms, Schubert, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Piazzola. Written over nine months
"to see if I could really write",
Robinson succeeded in creating a full 5-movement
suite in grand sonata form in the motivic tradition of Robert Schumann. The
musical characters
are handsome yet torn, humorous and athletic. They meet, date,
fall in
bed, fall in love, and
falling ever deeper
thru five stages of love until
we hear wedding
bells. It's a movie projected by the rich
color palette you would expect from a competent
Romantic composer.
A favorite example
is the Scherzo movement
entitled Fun
& Games. It may be a well-worn classical
formula but Robinson delivers a freshness and driving energy
with crisp virtuosic displays.
One easily imagines lovers chasing each
other, giggling and laughing thru a spring
forest. The usual Trio
section completely relaxes this fervor with an
extended shepard's pastorale
that builds, suggesting an ever-growing ecstasy using rising key centers.
Robinson is a gifted musical story-teller. You owe
it to yourself to hear this romantic adventure
unfold. (Last performance of Mighty Love
was Feb.
13.)
Robinson's work
over the next two years took him in surprising
new
directions. He sought to write a CD of lighter
10-minute works. He consequently began
developing new skills,
seamlessly weaving classical
with dance modes
and spinning off music inspired by famous classical works. You will find Latin,
tango, gospel, rock, rock-a-billy, country, folk, blues,
Detroit funk and even reggae incorporated like a
world triptych. He seems to be showing us how disparate
cultures have more in common than we thought.
Bearing titles such as GITCHA
GROOVE ON! and PORK 'N BEANS,
these include open-ended
grooves that invite adventurous players to improvise solos
and new audiences
to get up and dance.
Listen
to these samples from
the
inaugural performance. Robinson wrote two
compositions in 2008, IDYLL
for solo English horn and GIGUE-RONDO
for solo oboe. In
the summer of 2009 he wrote the soulful GITCHA
GROOVE ON! and PORK 'N BEANS.
By contrast, there's this stirring ELEGY
for his
friend. And the following fall saw the birth of
an urban essay for his hometown: HIGHLAND
PARK, MI: CITY OF
TREES. A debut CD of these works will
be recorded this year for release next
year. Meanwhile, see them on YouTube.
You may now buy their debut
singles, Gitcha Groove On! and City of
Trees at CD
Baby, Amazon
and iTunes!
Time
will soon tell the impact this music could
have on a quickly changing industry in need of
such refreshing, accessible and relevant
music. Continuing to pioneer the direct
pursuit of young audiences, Robinson began the
Detroit chapter of the worldwide Classical
Revolution movement during the famous DSO
strike of 2010. The movement began in San
Francisco to organize informal readings and
performances in bars, coffeehouses and art
galleries to bring classical music to the
deserving masses. Here Mr. CutTime experiments
with warming up classical for the curious;
letting go of the pursuit for perfection in
favor of the personal and raw truths that
youth seek in popular music.
Robinson
himself is an excellent marriage of old world
and new; of the classical past with the
Detroit now. His work is an important journey
for classical music from a Viennese-centric
art form to the very ground beneath our feet
in America.
If you would like to
hear this music in your community,
call CutTime at 313-680-8104!
and
please...
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