Shostakovich: Symphony No. 14 / Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death

Mussorgsky's music clearly provided the inspiration, along with Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, for Shostakovich's 14th Symphony, a setting of 11 poems by a variety of poets, all concerned in one way or another with death. This isn't a record to listen to on a bright spring morning. Both works--the Mussorgsky here performed in Shostakovich's excellent orchestration--lay misery on with a trowel, though there's much that's quite beautiful besides. It's a function of art that it can make such thoughts and images attractive, even appealing to the ear, but the I wouldn't say that either composer was particularly interested in "gilding the lily. " So make sure you're in the right mood or the experience--rendered here with appropriate intensity of expression--is likely to be pretty depressing. --David Hurwitz