The flute may be an instrument on which one can celebrate the greatest technical virtuosity, but its true secret lies elsewhere. Emmanuel Pahud, one of the world's finest flutists of our time, has learned this after many decades of intense study of the repertoire: "Today I appreciate above all the spiritual side of the instrument, and I've come to realize that this also applies in large measure to the composers who have written for the flute." The sound as a soulful breath of air that takes you into the world of dreams, into the world of the inner unreal: Pahud has discovered it in works from a wide variety of epochs, which he now unites in his album Dreamtime. Its stylistic diversity alone makes it one of the most extraordinary classical albums ever: avant-gardists such as Krzysztof Penderecki or Toru Takemitsu meet romantics such as Carl Reinecke and Ferruccio Busoni, and in between, in the dramaturgical middle so to speak, is Mozart with his cantabile Andante for flute and orchestra. What all the pieces have in common is a unique quality of the evocative and the unreal - also connected with experiences of nature: Krzysztof Penderecki created his Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra in December 1992 under the impression of the lunar eclipse taking place at the time. Toru Takemitsu's I Hear the Water Dreaming was inspired by the movement of water and is based on world creation myths of the Austra-lian Aborigines. The album Dreamtime is the result of Pahud's close collaboration with the Munich Radio Orchestra, of which the soloist is currently Artist in Residence. The conductor Ivan Repušić has great experience with the opera repertoire - and is therefore predestined to work with a soloist whose breath also requires wide spaces for the music to unfold.