“I was obsessed with Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death ever since

I first performed them at age 13. I was blown away by their powerful stories, and a sense of inevitability conveyed in the music.

My favorite among them has always been the Serenade, portraying Death coming as a mysterious knight to a deadly ill young woman. I was attracted by Mussorgsky’s use of rich and sometimes spicy harmonies, and by a thrilling metaphor of a deadly love hidden between its lines. Mussorgsky created a haunting sound image by setting the poetic text in a subtle, detailed way, magnifying each moment. ”

© Asiya Korepanova

​

In 2017, Asiya has written the transcription of the Serenade, and it became a part of her Midnight Pieces YouTube series. In 2019, she completed the whole set of four songs to commemorate the 180th anniversary of Mussorgsky's birth. The cycle has been premiered at the Rockefeller University, presented by the Tri-I noon recital Series.

 

In 2024, Asiya recorded the entire set on the incredible 1882 “Centennial D” Steinway & Sons grand piano, named Palisandra by its curator, Tali Mahanor, who discovered and restored it. This piano ultimately made waves in The New York Times, becoming the house piano of the reopened Frick Collection.

​

Mussorgsky composed Songs and Dances of Death between 1875 and 1877—just a few years before Palisandra was built. The closeness in time between the music and the instrument makes this recording and film, featured below, endlessly special.