"Flames? Never heard of it. This is the name of Franz Schreker's first opera, composed less than a hundred years ago, premiered in Vienna as a concert performance with piano, then relegated as a journeyman's piece to the shadow of Schreker's great successes, finally lost with them in the Nazi's rush to extermination. One hears no youthful attempt at touch. It is a brilliant first work. From the first night-black double-bass note to the metallically radiant conclusion, a one-act play of such tension, density, imagination, depth and independence unfolds that one devours every note. The vocabulary of the sounds is familiar, but the language is in itself new and completely unspent." So wrote Volker Hagedorn in the "Zeit" in June of this year on the premiere of "Flammen" at the Kiel Opera House. He was not alone in his enthusiasm about this excavation in the press. together with DeutschlandRadio, cpo has recorded this premiere in the original orchestral version, thus continuing the old bond with the outstanding Kiel theatre. Let Volker Hagedorn tell you once again what you can expect here in terms of artistic interpretation: "The soloists succeed in achieving tones far above mediocrity, and the Kiel orchestra is phenomenal. Ulrich Windfuhr not only prepared his musicians excellently, but conducted them as if Schreker's future fate depended on this evening."