Robert Savage: An Eye-Sky Symphony
Liner Notes   Cat. No. NWCR790     Release Date: 1998-01-01
David Del Tredici, piano; Musicians' Accord: Sara Laimon, piano; Katherine Flanders Mukherji, flute; Ted Mook, cello; Julie Rosenfeld, violin; Tim Smith, clarinet, bass clarinet; Christine Schadeberg, soprano); Polish National Radio Orchestra; Joel Eric Suben, Conductor

Robert Savage was a composer who spoke in diverse languages-the dance rhythms of the Caribbean zydeco, Chopinesque keyboard flourishes, the lilt of 1930s and '40s American popular song, Stravinsky's ostinati, the pulsing patterns of Minimalism-fusing them into a post-modern voice all his own. Savage's broad compositional vision reflects his persona as a seeker-outwardly traveling to the Middle East, Latin America, and Europe; inwardly reaching toward the essence of Buddhist Enlightenment and finding ultimately creative expression in the face of AIDS.

Born of American parents in Saudi Arabia, Savage came to the United States as a teenager. He received a BA in music from Columbia University in 1975 where he studied with Jack Beeson. In subsequent years he studied privately with Ben Weber, Ned Rorem, David Diamond, John Corigliano, and David Del Tredici. Intensely engaged by the natural world from childhood, Savage took lengthy solo hiking trips in the 1970s and '80s in Central and South America, the Pacific Northwest, Florida, and the Southwestern mountains and deserts. These explorations not only provided compositional inspiration, but they also introduced Savage to indigenous musical forms. The zydeco, a popular dance form he encountered in a year's stay in New Orleans, became an important rhythmic force in his works.

A student of Zen Buddhism, Savage founded a Buddhist meditation group for persons with AIDS at the Gay Men's Health Crisis in New York City. During a stay at Zen Mountain Monastery, Mount Tremper, New York, he also wrote several essays published in the Monastery's journal, the Mountain Record, which relate his Zen practice to his experiences of nature.

A recipient of grants and fellowships from the Wurlitzer Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the MacDowell and Dorland Mountain Colonies, and Zen Mountain Monastery, Savage frequently played his music at gatherings of friends and associates but rarely performed his works in public. At age forty-two, Robert Savage died in New York City of complications from AIDS


This title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Liner notes are accessible via the link above.

Musicians Accord

Robert Savage: An Eye-Sky Symphony

MP3/320 $9.99
FLAC $9.99
WAV $9.99
CD-R $9.99
CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print material or jewel case included.
A *.pdf of the notes may be accessed here free of charge.
   Liner Notes



Track Listing

Cowboy Nocturne
Robert Savage
Buy
Sudden Sunsets
Robert Savage
Buy
Florida Poems: I. Nomad Exquisite
Robert Savage
Buy
Florida Poems: II. Indian River
Robert Savage
Buy
Florida Poems: III. Two Figures in Dense Violet Light
Robert Savage
Buy
Florida Poems: IV. Of Mere Being
Robert Savage
Buy
Florida Poems: V. O Florida, Venereal Soil
Robert Savage
Buy
Florida Poems: VI. Fabliau of Florida
Robert Savage
Buy
An Eye-Sky Symphony: I. The Eye-Sky
Robert Savage
Buy
An Eye-Sky Symphony: II. During Fire
Robert Savage
Buy
An Eye-Sky Symphony: III. Endless Spring
Robert Savage
Buy
Aids Ward Scherzo
Robert Savage
Buy
Frost Free
Robert Savage
Buy

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