Histoire
du CutTime Players
CutTime Players
(CTP) started in 1995 when seven Detroit
Symphony Orchestra musicians teamed
up to perform Igor Stravinsky's
profound musical-drama The Soldier's Tale
(Histoire du Soldat). The score calls
for violin and double bass, clarinet and
bassoon, trumpet and trombone, and
percussion. The
double bassist Rick Robinson recognized
the POTENTIAL for this instrumentation
to perform another Russian musical story, Sergei Prokofiev's
Peter and the Wolf. And with just the
addition of a flutist, his clever
adaptation won the
new ensemble an invitation to
collaborate in a family concert series for the
Lyric Chamber Ensemble of Southfield.
The unique instrumentation realized by Igor Stravinsky
in 1917 for The
Soldier's Tale was born
of necessity. World War I had cut
him off from Russia and an income. Along with his
friends in Switzerland such as the French
novelist and poet C.F. Ramuz, they hit
upon the idea of a theatrical work for
the smallest and simplest of resources
which could then be taken easily on tour
around local villages. Stravinsky chose
this combination of instruments (violin/double
bass, clarinet/bassoon, trumpet/trombone)
to ensure the maximum range of the orchestral
choirs (strings,
woodwinds, brass). The percussion was modeled on
that of a period jazz-band.
Because adding one more melodic instrument
helped allow for more ambitious transcriptions,
CutTime Players added an eighth member
in 1998 with the versatile DSO flutist/pianist
Sharon
Sparrow. CutTime Players is the first
ensemble committed to this instrumentation.
Their distinguished and virtuosic repertoire
has grown to include over a HUNDRED
amazing arrangements
ranging from popular orchestral and
piano classics
to light jazz to folk music
including Klezmer. In 1999 they were
invited to produce a Tiny Tots series for
the DSO in collaboration with
dancers, puppeteers, mimes and narrators.
With a mission to make
classical music fresh, fun, accessible and
relevant to both NEW audiences AND sophisticated
ones, founding director Rick Robinson
and his experienced colleagues are
pioneering ways to reach listeners with
insightful analogies, humor, personal stories,
imaginative interpretations, interviews and audience
interactions.
