Nach längeren Reisen durch Asien erkennt Schoener, dass die Imitation östlicher Meditationspraxis kaum weiterführt. Seine zweiteilige elektronischen Komposition Meditation (1973) soll in ihrer eigenen Tonsprache „wie ein Fenster den Zugang zu uns selbst öffnen“. Auf CD 2 erklingt in Sky Music eine „Himmelsorgel“: Brieftauben fliegen mit gestimmten Pfeifen und Glöckchen durch einen Windtunnel von BMW. Das eigenartige Flirren, Säuseln und Wabern mischt sich mit den Klängen des Synthesizers. Mountain Music wiederum ist eine Natursinfonie mit echten und imitierten Vogelstimmen. Drei unvergleichliche Werke eines Visionärs.

the project

Meditation, a single work in two parts, was first recorded in 1973 after an extended trip to Asia. Unlike many works by other composers that have attempted to replicate the meditational music of the Far East, Schoener has created a reflective, slowly evolving musical journey that pays homage to his Western musical heritage as well as the insights he gained from traveling through the Far East.

On Sky Music/Mountain Music Schoener left the conventions of orient and occident behind, to bring forth music from nature itself. Though Sky Music sounds like a composition for sophisticated electronic instruments, it is actually created by a sky organ of living beings. Tuned whistles and small bells were attached to the chests of carrier pigeons. The birds were then allowed to fly through the gentle currents of air generated by BMW’s Wind Tunnel. The resulting music possesses a delicate, transparent form and a graceful sense of beauty that is positively uplifting.

Mountain Music explores a deeper dimension of acoustic phenomena. Schoener skillfully manipulates a wide variety of natural sounds into a moving, fully, developed composition with a remnant of Western classical form.

the artist

German composer, Eberhard Schoener is a sonic explorer who has not only stepped outside of European traditions for inspiration, he has created breathtaking music from the most unlikely sources. Celestial Harmonies has united two of his most stunning recordings into a double compact disk set. The music is presented on the label’s new duobox, an innovative packaging design that places two CDs into a standard, single disk-sized jewel box by means of a modified inner compartment.

biography

discography

tracklist