Divertimento fl/cl/vn/vc/pno

"Rutkowski, a University of Indianapolis professor, remarked briefly that with the commissioned Divertimento, he hoped to achieve a piece both entertaining and challenging. On opening night, it certainly came across that way. Built in five sections but played with pauses before and after the middle one, Divertimento has some of the symmetrical structure of the classical era, and some baroque-vintage movement titles, such as Sarabande and Toccata. But the execution of those forms is quite contemporary, whether one considers the piece's sometimes intense rhythmic interplay, its dissonant harmonies, its wordless setting of Ann Bretz's poem Admonition, or its combination of playing techniques ranging from 'prepared' piano to the 'bent' notes heard in the Japanese shakuhatchi tradition. It's hard to imagine a performance played with more commitment than this first crackling performance of the Rutkowski Divertimento."

Whitney Smith, "Ronen Chamber Ensemble goes Bohemian"
The Indianapolis Star, 4/3/02