The songs on this disc are drawn from Vassily Savenko's recital series entitled 'Russian Images'—a kaleidoscope of songs and romances by some of Russia's best-known composers. The simple tunes are strong and lyrical and range from serious, romantic ballads such as Tchaikovsky's I bless you, forests, set to poems by Tolstoy, to the unusual: 'Listen you blockhead! … if one of them bites us we'll squash it right away!', text from Mussorgky's satirical song Mephistopheles' Song of the flea.