As with CutTime Players, Simfonica concerts also feature lively transcriptions of hit symphonic works, such as Chabrier’s Espana Rhapsody, Enesco’s Romanian Rhapsody, plus a few piano works, such as Beethoven’s Pathetique sonata and Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in g-minor Op 23, No. 5. Sheet music for many of these works are also available for purchase.
Robinson also wrote many powerful elegies. The first is a dramatic Elegy (2009) recalling Bach, Broadway, and Beethoven, while First Grief (2011), for his father, effectively locked the foundation of the classical soul style Robinson has pioneered. Eight new works written during the Covid-19 pandemic create a volume of New American Elegies for him. Watch the resulting 2022 premiere Music For Interesting Times at ProMusica Detroit. Essay No. 2 (Never Forget) remains unschedule.
Robinson’s original music refresh the tonality and common practice conventions of German-romanticism, so they work in our time and country. With this American-romanticism and by referencing many favorite composers in his works, Robinson builds on what came before that musicians love to shape, and invites classical newcomers to discover their own humanity, and that of others through the classical music media. Rich melodies, clever modulations and counterpoint, plus moderate development express “the natural flow of human emotions to catharsis” that ancient Greek philosophers theorized. The European device of written music is the first technology that made this idea a reality. Hundreds of haunting works available to us today build to multiple theatrical climaxes that often lead to small emotional discoveries, or at least a good time.
CutTime collaborates often, to reconnect the humanities (spoken word, drama, geometry, architecture, dance, Olympics and even democracy) to instrumental music (sonata). Robinson has developed the ability to direct from his bass, hence performances retain symphonic sharpness and dramatic intensity. In 2010 CTS began working with Detroit Jit grand-masters Hardcore Detroit to choreograph City of Trees and Pork ‘n Beans. A 2015 addition is Robinson’s music for Louis Aguilar’s stageplay Art As a Weapon: (Five Scenes of Frida and Diego in Detroit). In 2019 he collaborated with The Urban Requiem Project to write Phantom Detroit for strings, jazz piano trio and the three URP poets.
