Dark Fall
Oehms, 2026
9/10
The composer Hans Thomalla is joined by some incredible help for this nearly 2 hour project that outlines an opera in 13 scenes based on Goethe’s Elective Affinities.
Act 1 opens with the animated keys and playful strings intersecting with a lively presence, where the storytelling unfolds with tense bouts, frisky moments with frantic keys and even soft gestures, such as “You must be owen”.
Act II leads with the expressive singing and light music of “Look, these journals”, while the melodic stabs of “No. 7 Duet: Nothing Seems As It Used To Be” builds richly.
“No. 9 Quartet: Elective Affinity”, exits disc 1 and it’s a rowdy, upbeat and exciting burst of colorful keys and exciting duet vocals, and disc 2 opens with the warm intimacy of “No. 10 Duet: I Feel That I’ve Begun To Disapper” that eventually turns into an ebullient mood.
Act III closes out the listen, and offers the quick burst of the tense “Do I Remember?”, as well as the eloquent “Curtis! lise!”, that gets more firm later on.
The Grammy winning conductor Alan Pierson and cast including Estelle Kruger, Curtis Uwe Eikotter. Ilse Lila Chrisp and Owen Thomas Berau illuminate Thomalla’s vision that surrounds love, autonomy and self-determination while being confronted with aging and memory loss, which is executed with unparalleled detail and artistic capabilities via the timeless opera.
Travels well with: Hans Thomalla- Dark Spring; Sean Shibe- Vesper