While Prokofiev was well known as an "enfant terrible" in his early years, he actually composed relatively few works that shocked his audiences. His songs are especially accessible, for while they can be profound and not easily grasped on first hearing, they rarely jolt the senses in the way the dissonant, unyielding Second Symphony (1924) or the brash Sarcasms for piano (1912-14) still can. But this collection of songs, composed the year after Prokofiev completed the Sarcasms, is an exception. The composer himself linked them stylistically to that caustic keyboard collection. They are uncompromising in their austere and detached manner, taking the listener into a hazy limbo, where the music seems to straddle darkness and playfulness, sweetness and horror, and seemingly does not often care to differentiate between such opposite moods.

The first song, "From Under the Roof" (also known as "The Garrett Dweller"), on texts by Valentin Goryanski, is one of the composer's longest, lasting over 11 minutes in a typical performance. It begins with a playful but sardonic introduction on the piano, after which the vocalist delivers the eerie main theme. The song, about a poor city inhabitant's ruminations and visions, develops much tension as it progresses, both in its vocal and piano parts. Its many moods and contrasts provide some color within the music's generally gray mists and weird sonic world. The second song, "A Gray Dress," on texts by Zinaida Gippius, begins slowly and remains in an ethereal but morbid realm throughout its five minutes.

"Trust Me," on texts by Boris Verin, is a bit Scriabinesque in its air of mystery and gentleness, and with the text telling of a temple with "strange flowers" and a "mysterious god." "In My Garden" features eerie and powerfully chilling music to match the gripping text by symbolist poet Konstantin Balmont. The last song, "The Sorcerer," on texts by Nikolai Agnivtsev, begins with a sinister march-like gait, the vocal line menacing here and throughout in relating its tale about a sorcerer who hangs himself. In sum, these songs will not appeal to some, but are masterful and imaginative creations worth greater attention.

© Robert Cummings, Rovi