the project

Departure from the Northern Wasteland was recorded in 1977. It represents Michael Hoenig's return to a more compositional approach to music after working solely with improvisational music for five years. Each piece is developed largely from a mood, and though the music begins here, it is music that is finished in the mind of each listener. On this album, Hoenig works with the compositional concepts of a single tonal center and a basic rhythmic pulse. The rhythmic element is very important to him and he utilizes various pulse units as well as drifting downbeats. Musically complex and an electronic classic, this CD consistently provides the listener with new experiences each time it is heard.

the artist

Synthesist, Michael Hoenig, is an innovative composer at the forefront of new music. A former member of Agitation Free and Tangerine Dream, he was in the vanguard of Europe's electronic music scene since its earliest days in Berlin.

Born in Hamburg, Germany, Hoenig moved to Berlin when he was three. His early interests were in photography and painting and he began his exploration into music in the late 1960s. Hoenig strived to discover new sounds and new forms of music. Bypassing a classical music education, he first approached the synthesizer without preconceived notions of how it should be played or what it should sound like, and maintained a strong commitment to exploiting all of its possibilities for sound and tone color.

discography

tracklist