FLAC tracks | Classical | 51:39 | 207 MbChristian Ofenbauer’s Frankfurter Préludes (Frankfurt Preludes, 1997 / 98) mark a stylistic transition in the composer’s work.

With the benefit of two decades’ retrospect, one immediately hears how strongly and with what astonishing resoluteness these pieces situate this shift as their central musical focus, how they both reflect and tease out the intricacies of the transition.

Today’s listeners are in a position to perceive this even more strongly than the audience at the world première on 19 November 1999, the recording of which is documented on this CD, possibly could have – and even more strongly than the composer himself may have realized at the time.

This diptych comprises two decidedly unequal parts that, putting aside for a moment the instrumental forces they require, have virtually nothing in common.

It is not even possible for the same orchestra to perform them live without a lengthy intermission during which the stage set-up must be changed considerably.

Nonetheless, their inner coherence remains strangely palpable.

Tracklist:01. 2 Frankfurter Préludes: No 1, Zwei Kraniche und Wolken (Live)02. 2 Frankfurter Préludes: No. 2a, Zwei Kraniche und Wolken / D:ouble (Live)03. 2 Frankfurter Préludes: No. 2b, Zwei Kraniche und Wolken / D:ouble (Live)04. 2 Frankfurter Préludes: No. 2c, Zwei Kraniche und Wolken / D:ouble (Live)05. 2 Frankfurter Préludes: No. 2d, Zwei Kraniche und Wolken / D:ouble (Live)06. 2 Frankfurter Préludes: No. 2e, Zwei Kraniche und Wolken / D:ouble (Live)07. 2 Frankfurter Préludes: No. 2f, Zwei Kraniche und Wolken / D:ouble (Live)08. 2 Frankfurter Préludes: No. 2g, Zwei Kraniche und Wolken / D:ouble (Live)09. 2 Frankfurter Préludes: No. 2h, Zwei Kraniche und Wolken / D:ouble (Live)10. 2 Frankfurter Préludes: No. 2i, Zwei Kraniche und Wolken / D:ouble (Live)11. 2 Frankfurter Préludes: No. 2j, Zwei Kraniche und Wolken / D:ouble (Live)12. 2 Frankfurter Préludes: No. 2k, Zwei Kraniche und Wolken / D:ouble (Live)13. 2 Frankfurter Préludes: No. 2l, Zwei Kraniche und Wolken / D:ouble (Live)14. 2 Frankfurter Préludes: No. 2m, Zwei Kraniche und Wolken / D:ouble (Live)