Born in Berlin 1942, he began playing the saxophone as a teenager. At that time he claims he had a lot of sounds to penetrate and questions to ask. While officially playing clarinet and violin he had to hide his first saxophone from his parents. Regarding clarinet Mr. Rechtern says, ��it was nice of them to concede to that reed but I had to practice saxophone in the forests at night, yet at 28 I was playing in jazz bands that were very quickly ended by police intervention - of course because of loudness, but all musicians agreed - that was not the reason - there was something else".

Throughout his career he has shown a deep interest in philosophical and historical texts and as with most artists this has influenced his views on art and its politics. His creative abilities were recognized by many musicians including Fritz Novotny of the Reform Art Unit who invited him to join the group for many projects that included Sepp Mitterbauer, Leena Conquest , Paul Fields,