Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death really divide into two for women and two for men‚ though there is no case for sharing them out‚ as has been tried‚ for different reasons‚ with Berlioz’s Nuits d’été. It is more important to sustain the sense of Death as the visitor‚ taking all‚ kindly or mercilessly. Of the few woman singers who have recorded the cycle‚ Vishnevskaya has made two versions; and another is Podles herself‚ with Graham Johnson accompanying her on the piano. Alan Blyth found her ‘a real individual among today’s singers...a welcome throwback to a more idiosyncratic style of singing’. Though she is Polish‚ she does indeed suggest Russian singing of an earlier generation‚ and her histrionic manner well suits these songs when it is coupled to powerful vocal control and a vivid sense of how to carry the inflections of the texts into musical phrases. The ‘Lullaby’ to the child has a mingled sense of tenderness and anxiety‚ with well­judged portamentos emphasising the expression‚ and the ‘Serenade’ is eerily well­judged. Inevitably‚ the ‘Trepak’ lacks the quality which a male singer can bring to the poor drunken peasant lost in the snow‚ though Podles increases the tension well‚ with sardonic emphases and a splendidly lurching accompaniment from Orbelian and the orchesta. ‘Field Marshal Death’ is less successful simply because the male timbre is essential as the grim commander reaps the battlefield. The rest of the recital is intelligently chosen‚ with beautiful performances of Prokofiev’s own battlefield survey of the girl moving among the fallen‚ and Tchaikovsky’s Joan bidding farewell to her homeland. The excerpt from the little­known Moscow is really no more than a curiosity. In all‚ in interesting recital by an interesting singer with a powerful personality who understands the music well and performs it with never anything less than full intensity.