Unusually subtle performances. Johnson and Lipovsek are freer with rubato than most and, aided by an atmospheric recording, make use of half-lights in their coloring of the music.

With the exception of The Nursery, Mussorgsky's songs have traditionally been the province of male singers. The dark and uncompromising subject matter of his other cycles would seem to call for equally dark-voiced singers and it is no surprise that the major sets of his songs to date have come from a pair of implacable basses, Boris Christoff (EMI, 8/89) and Aage Haugland (Chandos, 4/95). The women, however, are starting to make their mark. Last year Eva Podles offered a recital disc that included The Nursery and the Songs and Dances of Death and now Marjana Lipovsek has recorded all three of the cycles, making a substantial addition to the handful of Mussorgsky recordings by female voices that we have already.

This new disc offers the best-known songs in unusually subtle performances, mainly thanks to the influence of the accompanist, Graham Johnson. He and Lipovsek are freer with rubato than most of their rivals and, aided by an atmospheric recording, regularly make use of half-lights in their colouring of the music. Lipovsek's mezzo is also richer and steadier than most of the Russian female voices heard in this repertoire in the past. For The Nursery she lightens her tone very effectively, taking the songs in higher keys than other mezzos. A comparison with Margaret Price's recording, reissued last year as part of a two-disc set, shows two singers at opposite extremes: Price is clear-toned and rhythmically exact, Lipovsek affectionate and flexible. Price sees the songs through the eyes of a naughty little brat who is rebelling against a strict nurse, whereas Lipovsek's child sounds quite a bit younger, a wide-eyed infant, who gets quite tearful when he is told off.

-- Gramophone [9/1996]