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Full of ambivalent sensations, colours and shades, night-time has long been special to Elīna Garanča. “For some people, the night can be full of fear and uncertainty. It’s a time when you’re alone and confronted with yourself,” she says. And yet it can also bring peace. “The world calms down and falls asleep, and we humans can find calm as well.” Garanča’s new Deutsche Grammophon album, When Night Falls …, released on World Sleep Day 2024, embraces all these nuances, reflecting the night from twilight to the darkness of the early hours, in songs with orchestral, chamber or solo-instrument accompaniment. The mezzo-soprano has chosen her selection of pieces with a view to conjuring “that time of day when you withdraw from the world, come home, close the door and focus exclusively on your own life, in a safe environment”. This is the guiding thought behind the dramatic arc of When Night Falls … The album takes listeners from the rich colours of sunset, a time when the hustle and bustle of the day may still be reverberating, to the intimacy and silence of the night. It opens with three works for voice and orchestra – Richard Strauss’s Wiegenlied (“Lullaby”: “Träume, träume, du mein süßes Leben” – “Dream, dream, you sweet life of mine”), Falla’s Asturiana and the Abendsegen, or “Evening Prayer”, from Humperdinck’s opera Hänsel und Gretel, in which Garanča sings both parts, thanks to overdubbing, which she calls a “fascinating experiment”. The singer is accompanied in all three by the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, conducted by Karel Mark Chichon.