Andrew Mark Sauerwein

This piece follows the composition of Sakharoviana, during which I had opportunity to consider various recollections of Andrei Sakharov's character and personality at some length. What emerged was a striking image of warm-hearted reserve, compassion, persistent and intense curiosity, measured complexity of thought, and moral perseverance.  The present work pursues a musical rendering of this image as a singular inner disposition of spirit.

Building on harmonic materials developed for Sakharoviana, Sakharov Song takes the shape of a continuous arch, built out of a series of chords in rhythmically and texturally symmetrical patterns, with an introduction and coda comprising the same series of chords in irregularly-spaced blocks.