Matthias Kirschnereit, Munchner Rundfunkorchester, Ulf Schirmer Friedrich Von Flotow: Piano Concertos No. 1 & 2 (2023)

He was one year older than Richard Wagner and passed to the heavenly stage just a month after him on 24 January 1883; Friedrich von Flotow embodied a type of artist whom contemporary scholars of the German-speaking world had a particularly hard time putting their fingers on. Despite his North German origins, he was educated in Paris and soon came into close contact with the masters of French oper(ett)a. In the eyes of many critics, he was something of a traitor, renouncing Germany's high, lofty ideals. Not only was he able to celebrate his first real successes in France. The fact that he also conquered German stages with his works – bypassing Germans' strict world view, so to speak – was beyond forgiveness to some.