Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death

I know that as a general rule, you people tend to despise song cycles, without mentioning the forbidden word Russian. However, you fail to see the beauty that comes from the mournful, tragic and yet enlightened lyrics that stem from this often peculiar dialect. I have chosen this as an example, as I don't want to spend all my time praising Shostakovich, otherwise I would have reviewed the arguably superior From Jewish Folk Poetry.
The Songs and Dances of Death, orchestrated by Shostakovich, (his orchestrative style was very effective in song cycles and really enhance the piece) is set in four movements, to the poems of Golenischev and Katuzov. The first, entitled Trepak, is about a drunken man lost in the forest as a blizzard rages, who is talked to and strangely comforted by Death. While most bizzare, yet this movement has a stunning quality of music, a searching and haunting lyrical content that creates moments of beauty that are lacking from the works of other European and American composers. The second movement, Lullaby, is a tragic song that sees us looking upon a mother, trying to comfort her sick child. Hush, she says, for sleep is the only comfort that will visit this scene. It is a moment of tragedy captured most excellently by Mussorgsky.
The third is the Serenade, as Death stalks a beautiful woman, whom he claims as his own, wishingto smother her. It is a strange piece, which again captures a strange scene that is translated into a rather interesting musical piece that progresses slowly, without great changes in tempo, just a rather medidative narrative that culminates in a sudden rise before coming to an abrupt end and rushing into the somewhat more lively The Field Marshal.
This tells of a man singing of battle, the rush and the horses charge. He speaks mainly of the inevitably of death however, and when you see Death upon the hill. It is an interesting composition, and I believe a worthy finale. It resembles the works of Wagner on occassions, finishing with a succession of crescendos and decrescendos before the singer, Boris Christoff to this day has done the most justice to Mussorgsky, signals the end with the tragedy of death resonating in his final notes.
An excellent song cycle, I would rate this among Mussorgsky's best works. Highly recommended, I personally own the most renowned version, the EMI recording of Boris Christoff singing his three major cycles as well as his shorter, and somewhat lighter pieces, including the brilliant Darling Savishna.