Ever embedded in the midst of Ernst Helmuth Flammer’s composing has been the preoccupation with being and time, time and space in their various aggregate states, in their various degrees of materialisation and representationalism, also their end linked with what comes after.

This applies all the more to the compositions in which the flute instruments take centre stage. Since these works were created over a broad period, they also represent a kaleidoscope of his composing over a long stretch of time.

Styx for flute and chamber orchestra, composed in (1979-1980), with Carin Levine and the Ensemble Köln under the direction of Robert HP Platz, is still largely committed to a serial tradition.

Se mettre en route vers l’infini ... il faut traverser ... (1995-1997) is a study for octobass flute, whose pitch corresponds to that of the double bass, played by Pierre-Yves Artaud and for piano, played by Pi-hsien Chen, and electronics.

Interludium VII (2003) for flute solo with Caren Levine is an interlude from a critical cycle for big band and solo instruments that reflects colonialism, ethnic alienation, foreign domination and cultural appropriation. Not least, for this reason, this piece is strongly interspersed with swing and jazz elements.

The work Kīpuka (2020/2021), also recorded by Carin Levine, is what Flammer calls a tribute to Klaus K. Hübler, the important composer who left us far too early, to the friend.