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The two works that Guenko Guechev selected for
his new solo CD, Songs and Dances of Death,
are both ruminations on the subject of mortality. Recorded
at Duquesne University’s PNC Recital Hall,
the work features Guechev’s interpretations
of Modest Mussorgsky’s Songs
and Dances of Death, and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Suite
on Poems of Michelangelo Buonarroti, Op. 145.
Guechev, a renowned Bulgarian bass-baritone
and chair of voice at the Mary Pappert School
of Music, explained that Mussorgsky’s song cycle
is difficult to describe as anything but dark,
despite its beauty. It is also a perfect companion
to the Suite on Poems of Michelangelo
Buonarroti.
Because Michelangelo is so well known as the Renaissance
genius and creator of iconic masterpieces of art
and architecture, people are often unprepared for
the brooding anger and unexpected subject matter
in his poetry. Yet Shostakovich found inspiration
in the artist’s words and used Michelangelo’s
poems as the foundation of this work, his final
song cycle, which was completed in 1975, one year
before his death.
Though 100 years separate them, the two song
cycles are so thematically and philosophically
related that, when Shostakovich premiered
his own composition, he selected Mussorgsky’s Songs
and Dances of Death to introduce the program,
according to Guechev. Yet, despite that commonality, the
two works never have been recorded together.
The glimpse of redemption in the final song of the
Shostakovich piece, with hope emerging despite
the bleak lyrics and somber music, makes
coupling the song cycles on the same recording so compelling.
“It’s like spending 40 years in the
desert,” Guechev said. “You sing these
two cycles in darkness, but you see the Promised
Land in the last piece.”
This is Guechev’s first solo recording,
though he has appeared in more than 1,000 opera
performances in Europe and the United States, including
four years singing with the prestigious Compagnia
d’Opera in Milan, Italy.
Susanna Lemberskaya, whom Guechev credits
with having served the greatest singers in the
world as coach and accompanist, played piano on
the recording. Bill Purse, chair of the guitar
and music technology programs in the music school,
was recording engineer.
Songs and Dances of Death is produced by
Gega New, a Bulgarian classical music label,
and available through the School
of Music, from major retailers
or from ArkivMusic.
Duquesne University
Duquesne is a private, coeducational university
with nearly 10,000 students. An extensive
selection of undergraduate and graduate degree
programs is offered across 10 schools of study.
Duquesne is consistently ranked among the nation's
top Catholic universities for its award-winning
faculty and 128-year tradition of academic excellence. | 
