German composer Schoener is a sonic explorer who has not only stepped outside European traditions for inspiration, but has created breathtaking music from the most unlikely sources, both natural and electronic. After an extended journey through the Far East, in which he studied religious as well as musical practices, he came to the conclusion that artists need to come to terms with their own cultural heritages to be truly effective. His 1973 release Meditation, for instance, expressed the ideal of spiritual contemplation often associated with the East, through synthesized music rooted in Western experience. ~ Linda Kohanov