Harold Budd, a modern poet of the piano, has been playing music since his teens, yet it was not until his late 30s that he found his true voice as a composer. And it was only in 1978, with the release of "The Pavilion of Dreams", his first record, that the work of this genial Californian began to find an international audience. In the early 60s, under the spell of John Cage amd Morton Feldman, he produced an indeterminate, improvisatory music, moving on, as the decade progressed, to a much more spare and minimalistic style: pieces consisted of quiet drones or simple instructions to the performers. As the 70s began, Budd ground to an 18-month halt: "I really minimalized myself out of a career," he says now. The turning point came with Madrigals of the Rose Angel in 1972, a gently hypnotic work for harp, electric piano, celeste, percussion and lulling, angelic chorus—"my favorite instuments"—which he wrote for a university festival. Brian Eno heard a tape of "Madrigals" and offered Budd the chance to record this and other pieces from the hour-long Pavilion of Dreams cycle. In 1980, the two collaborated on "The Plateaux of Mirror", the second record in Eno's Ambient series: Budd provided the electric and acoustic piano parts, and Eno the crystalline studio treatments.

In 1986, Budd attracted well-deserved attention for his collaboration with The Cocteau Twins on "The Moon and the Melodies". With By the Dawn's Early Light in 1991, Budd introduced spoken poetry into his music. While 1992's Music for 3 Pianos (with Ruben Garcia and Daniel Lentz) is again only instrumental, 1994's She Is a Phantom continues the music and poetry direction of "Dawn's" and marks a return to composing for ensemble.