Songs and Dances of Death (Pesni i plyaski smerti), composed in the mid-1870s, is widely considered the finest song cycle by Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881).  The composer selected four poems penned by his distant cousin, Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov, each depicting death as a personified agent of relief from affliction.  Mussorgsky passed away before completing a full orchestral version of the work.  This version, scored by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1962, was written for Russian soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, to whom he dedicated it. Reprint edition. Movements: 1. Lullaby/Berceuse [Wiegenlied]; 2. Serenade [Wiegenlied/St�ndchen]; 3. Trepak [Tanzlied]; 4. Field Marshal [Der feldherr/Feldherr tod].