Rescored from third movement of Galbraith's Night Train suite.

Moonlight for string orchestra

This reading of a dramatic elegy captured our shock, grief and recovery when Dad suddenly passed in 2011. He was so grounded and generous, and loved to dance.
I've decided in 2020 to include this work in a career-long series I'm calling "New American Elegies." First Grief is now considered Book 2 in that series. Hence "NAEBk2."

Robinson - First Grief NAEBk2 reading

MIDI realization of Essay for Orchestra.

Essay for Orchestra is an action-packed piece in three sections. It explores color, gesture, and a fixation on one particular harmonic cell. The outer sections are faster and the middle section is slower, with the latter giving the audience a bit of a chance to breathe while the performers take them on a very circuitous journey.

Essay For Orchestra

Being haunted by the opening music soon after the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, I captured the 1st half.  Then the 2nd half during the early days of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 being haunted by the coda.

Expectant parents sing a lullaby to their unborn child. Once born (2nd phrase), the child quickly learns to move beyond stepwise motion into leaps. Soon, they're running into school with other kids, where they play and learn together, until they are tragically disrupted. 
For the distraught parents, their child is frozen on the pivotal note of A, until that note becomes a demand to seek legal redress in court and government.

  Musicians for this performance:
Hai-Xin Wu, violin 1
Rachel Harding Klaus, violin 2
Michael Chen, viola 1
Jasper Zientek, viola 2
Damon Coleman, violoncello
Rick Robinson, double bass

Recorded LIVE by CutTime Simfonica® at Detroit Institute of Arts Detroit Film Theatre Oct. 7, 2022
Music copyright © 2020 by Richard A. Robinson (ASCAP)
Music published by CutTime Players Publishing (ASCAP) All Rights Reserved.
www.cuttime.com

Music For Interesting Times

Let The Children Play Part 1

Let The Children Play Part 1 DIA premiere

Erbarme Dich, from Bach's St. Matthew Passion
Andrey Nemzer, countertenor
Sandro Leal-Santiesteban, violin
Resonance Chamber Orchestra
Maria Sensi Sellner, conductor
from "Lamentation" performed in March 2015 at Waverly Presbyterian Church, Regent Square, Pittsburgh, PA

This was the first Resonance Works performance of Bach - in our 2nd season

Bach - Erbarme Dich from the St. Matthew Passion

Pairing disparate musical styles like jazz and classical, “Gitcha Groove On!” takes its name from ROCO’s 44th world premiere commission of the same name by Rick Robinson (in his ROCO debut). It’s a jazz-infused classical commission for the full orchestra plus trapset, the product of ROCO winning the New Music Box and ASCAP “Music Alive” Partnership award. Poulenc’s “Sinfonietta” and Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s “Much Ado About Nothing” complete the program, conducted by Andrés Cárdenes. Performed September 26, 2015, at The Church of St. John the Divine, Houston, TX.

Rick Robinson, Gitcha Groove On!

Aaron Copland explains how he developed his distinctly American style during a lecture at Interlochen Arts Academy on May 6, 1967.

Aaron Copland on: His musical style

Aaron Copland asserts the importance of the arts in America during a lecture at Interlochen Arts Academy on May 6, 1967.

Aaron Copland on: the importance of the arts

The CutTime Players have an upcoming performance at the Birmingham Temple but first Chris Felcyn talks with Mr. CutTime himself, bassist-arranger-composer-founder Rick Robinson.

Rick Robinson - April 3, 2018

After a decades-long career with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, violinist Joseph Striplin recently retired from the DSO. WRCJ’s Peter Whorf speaks with the current Grosse Pointe Symphony Orchestra maestro about the next chapter in his musical life, and the beginning of his path to the violin...

Joseph Striplin - December 9, 2020

To play and adapt classical music for a career have been my greatest joys. Then I began creating new music to share with broader communities in new ways.

While playing in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for decades, I began to put classical newbies at the center of my music-making with two unique ensembles; CutTime Players and CutTime Simfonica®. Together, we began to reset classical music (esp. public domain) so everyone knows what to actually do with it.

Originally a symbol meaning fast and lively, CutTime® means to create shortcuts into classical music.
Because if to most Americans, classical music seems so European, ancient, exclusive, restrained, dry and somewhat pointless, then we the musicians need to smarten it up, and show immediate benefits for regular people that stick, esp. outside of the arts bubbles.

Concert halls and traditional concerts are designed to maximize the potential personal impact for the greatest number. The sonic blanket of acoustic instruments is warmest with quiet, theater rules. 
But a good counterpoint to this environment is "casual classical," background or foreground, well-produced or cheap, that can reset the classical arts IRL. So let's make "clam" gig-gil-y fun, sexy and instantly profound, and stick it everywhere!

CutTime® plays symphonic and classical music with as few as 4-8 players. We show up everywhere, make classical active, rewarding and "info-taining." We amplify lightly, and often add a drummer and audience participation. Live classical can now work almost anywhere, from living rooms to popular venues, naturally schools and churches, but also shaded summer streets and backyards. 

Sexy movie music, mad counterpoint, and street beats meet in my compositions City of Trees, Pork 'n Beans, Gitcha Groove On!, Phantom Detroit and First Grief. Modulations, drama and fugatos make VERY sexy action music.
Drums and historic grooves let us rock dramatically. The folk music of our time refreshes the 19th-Century sonata forms. Then, we should be ready for some Brahms.

Thanks for listening! Be sure to share. I'm done with Twitter. 
Search for "cuttime" on YouTube.
- Rick

Let The Children Play Part 1 DIA premiere

Mr. CutTime

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