The Sounds of a World in Progress
American composer, conductor and bassist Rick Robinson and his CutTime Simfonica performed for Pro Musica of Detroit in an online program that streamed May 13, 2021. Fusing virtuosity in performance with depth of interpretation, the Pro Musica LIVE program was filled with the musical arts at their finest.
Maestro Robinson is a distinguished alumnus of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Over a career that spanned 22 years, he received great critical, popular and professional acclaim as a classical bassist. He also is recognized as the DSO’s second African American member, joining Joseph Striplin, the virtuoso violinist, in 1989.
Dan Keelan, Vice President, Pro Musica of Detroit, introduced Mr. Robinson and the Pro Musica LIVE host, Cecelia Sharpe, who also serves WRCJ 90.9 FM on air. Mr. Robinson and Ms. Sharpe have known each other for more than a decade through their professional careers, including a number of public DSO programs at Orchestra Hall. They immediately drew us into their conversation.
During the late 1980s, we were reminded, lawmakers in Lansing sent about $1.25 million per year to the DSO. A number of Michigan lawmakers wanted the DSO to reflect the community of Detroit, a city where about 60-percent of the population at the time were African American.
Also then, fewer than 1 in 100 professional classical musicians in the nation’s classical orchestras were African American. While much work remains to be done, today we are fortunate to have organizations and individuals like The Sphinx Organization, founded by Aaron Dworkin, and its good work to discover, encourage and develop young Black and Latinx classical string musicians.
Things were different in 1989. Unless the DSO immediately added new African American musicians, the state legislators would withhold about half its annual support. The DSO turned to Rick Robinson. The 25-year-old bassist would become one of the few musicians to ever join a major orchestra without first having to audition.
The exception for Mr. Robinson, we learned, was the result of his extensive playing time as a substitute bassist. On-call with the DSO, he was brought in to perform as needed by the musical program or performance schedule. The deciding factor in the hiring, however, was a vote taken by fellow DSO musicians after an extended overseas tour on which Mr. Robinson participated. Fortunate for us today, and for all who appreciate classical music, that his DSO colleagues then recognized genius.
Mr. Robinson credits his family for creating a musical environment for a youngster to grow into a professional musician. He also thanked them for instilling in him many of the other personal attributes needed to succeed in the performing arts, a most demanding field for artists and organizations. He credits his service with the DSO, including work under conductors Thomas Wilkins and Neeme Järvi, for helping develop his skills as a performer and understanding as a composer.
While still at the peak of his physical abilities, Mr. Robinson left the DSO and set out to build a new cultural institution. His goal was to bring classical music to new and on-traditional audiences. Audiences need to be awakened. First, however, they must be reached. He founded CutTime Productions, and established the pioneering ensembles CutTime Simfonica and CutTime Players to reset the context of classical music for a wider community.
For Pro Musica LIVE, CutTime Simfonica was comprised of Eliot Heaton, Michigan Opera Theatre Concertmaster, violin I; Daniel Winnick, violin II; Leslie DeShazor, viola; Rick Robinson, bass; and Mike List, percussion. The stellar ensemble was a knock-out, playing adaptations of famous masterpieces and new works blending classical with urban pop.
The Pro Musica LIVE program included works by Duke and Mercer Ellington, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, William Grant Still and Scott Joplin. The program concluded with a performance of Maestro Robinson’s 2010 composition, “Pork ‘n Beans.”
The musical performance began with “Martin Luther King” from the opera “Three Black Kings,” a work begun by Duke Ellington and completed by his son, Mercer Ellington. Led by the sterling play of Mr. Heaton, the piece evolves from a happy melodic discussion between the treble strings and the rhythm section, perhaps reflecting the rapport the young Rev. Dr. King would build with his parishioners at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. As Ms. DeShazer performs a stirring solo, each musician brings their own brilliance, propelling the composition, bringing us along as the musical sermon ascends in majesty.
“The bread and butter of the classical world,” is how Mr. Robinson described Mozart and Beethoven. For the Pro Musica LIVE audience, he added new musical flavors and unexpected nourishment.
CutTime Simfonica performed Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 with a samba twist, containing elements of Cuban and African music. Mr. List kept time with a shaker shaped like a banana as Mr. Winnick kept the unmistakable voice of Amadeus in our ears. The first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 revealed new dimensions from the “Knock of Fate” – profundity revealed by Mr. Robinson’s arrangement and the five performers’ brilliance.
The performance also shared two remarkable treasures from modern African American composers. CutTime Simfonica revealed the sublime beauty and spiritual energy of the third movement, the Animato, from William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1. Through performance and recording, Maestro Neeme Järvi, DSO musical director emeritus, helped preserve the composer’s oeuvre, which bridged the classical world of European music to the rhythms and senses tuned in the new World. Similarly, CutTime Simfonica revealed and shared the artistic beauty, mathematical precision and the incredible joie de vivre contained in Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer.”
Mr. Robinson’s “Pork ‘n Beans” served up a spicey hot contribution to the contemporary classical repertoire. With three distinct components, evoking the rhythms, dances and tastes from three continents, the work reflects the architecture on which Western music and storytelling are built. Like a great and popular meal, it is a true work of art stirring appetites for more – and concludes with a happy and uniquely American ending.
The presentation marked the fifth episode of the new Pro Musica LIVE online performance and interview series that connect the music of Detroit with the wider world. Filmed and edited by Detroit Media Productions, the digital performances and interviews were every bit and byte in keeping with the 94-year tradition of Pro Musica of Detroit.
Interested readers and supporters of Pro Musica can still enjoy the program. Click here to experience.
In keeping with Pro Musica of Detroit tradition, Rick Robinson and CutTime Simfonica treated us to an evening filled with the musical arts and conversation at their finest. And like the best people, they changed us for the better. The artists brought us into the world of classical music, expanded our perspectives by treating us to sounds from the New World and showing us how the new elements (and new people) don’t detract, they strengthen, the qualities of the classical formula. In the process, the artists have not only given us new ideas, they have expanded our world. Judging by the artistry of Rick Robinson and his CutTime Simfonica, the future of classical music is in good hands.
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