Sunless/The Nursery/Songs and Dances of Death and Other Songs

Mussorgsky, Modest

album cover

A Doomsayer, Unexpurgated

Of all the amazing pieces written by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky—the opera Boris Godunov, piano suites like Pictures at an Exhibition—the ones that reveal most about him are his songs. Mussorgsky (1839–1881) struggled with mental instability and was known to be an alcoholic, and as a result, he didn't always complete his scores; in many cases, his original sketches were "refined" posthumously, by such well-meaning fellow composers as Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

The songs underwent no such filtering—they're Mussorgsky unexpurgated, sharing what's going on in his head. That explains the grim and sometimes disturbing notions, the melodies that dwell in murky darkness, the absence of pleasantries. The austere Sunless, for example, explores depression and sleeplessness; its talky themes, sung here with appropriate solemnity by Boris Christoff, could be the babbling internal conversation of a troubled soul. As on the other songs and cycles here, form is often mutable and difficult to discern—Mussorgsky uses free-flowing melodies, with few repeating anchor phrases, to frame the narratives.

Though its six parts offer more fanciful melodic window-dressing, The Nursery is, on the whole, even scarier. Most composers treat children as fairy-tale innocents, but Mussorgsky (who wrote the words for this one himself) depicts children here as cunning proto-adults, cute on the surface but with grown-up talent for lying and manipulating.

The most intense music here is found in the Songs and Dances of Death, a series of haunted episodes that might as well have been written for Christoff's thick voice-of-doom baritone. Christoff brings consummate control to the music, and also an actor's sense of intonation that transforms the songs into little dramas. The songs themselves are focused in ways that suggest isolated emotions; whenever a tune gets lachrymose, Christoff sings as though his eyes are welling up with tears. The first song presents Death as a gentle sort, helping relieve the earthly burdens of a drunk peasant in a snowstorm. The "Cradle Song" finds Death singing a lullaby to a sick child, while in the final song, Death appears as battle general, out to claim an army. Christoff sings this one with Russian gusto and a slight hint of a raised eyebrow: Where the previous pieces characterize Death as a force of nature, this one makes Death seem greedy and creepy. It's almost as if the composer has resigned himself to that old adage: If Death doesn't get you one way, it'll get you another.

Genre: Classical
Released: 2003, EMI Classics
Key Tracks: Sunless: Song 1: "Within Four Walls." The Nursery: Song 5: "On the Hobbyhorse." Songs and Dances of Death: Song 2: "Lullaby." Song 4: "The Field Marshal."
Catalog Choice: Boris Godunov
Next Stop: Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs
After That: Jussi Björling: Great Operatic Arias
Book Page: 535