I have encountered a few electronic-driven operas over the years, and they rarely match the majesty, scope, and imagination of anything from the classical, orchestral, or operatic world. That is, until now. Far from the usual bleeps and sonic squiggles that many electronic soundscapers think are enough to give their work such a title, Mortal Prophets gives us something that is truly outside the normal realms of contemporary music but also beyond the scope of classical traditions.
The result is something that spans the void between the two. A sonic bridge built of delicacy and deftness, sonic washes and wide-screen cinematic vision, a balance of grace and grandeur, a haunting soundscape full of pathos and poignancy.
Inspired by and infused with the story of Erik Jan Hanussen, the Vienna-born Jewish mystic who became a psychic advisor to Adolf Hitler, the music crackles with an otherworldly energy. It sweeps between digital intrigues and shimmering beauty, understatement and, if such a thing isn’t an oxymoron, gentle crescendo, glitchy futurism, and primal washes of sound.
Across eight acts plus connecting pieces, John Beckmann, the man behind the moniker, adds a suitable soundtrack to Hanussen’s strange story via music that ranges from the sounds that would be at home in the recent Blade Runner movie, all haze and haunting washes to chiming, cinematic guile.
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