Slavic ballad, warm natural acoustic recording, slow free pulse; low, dark female voice with clipped rhythmic staccato phrasing threaded through a drawn-out folk melody, clear Russian diction and ancient melismatic turns; restrained gusli, low cello, delicate flute, rare bell tones, ancient modal colors; near-bare opening grows into a multivoiced chorus, then returns to an intimate close, folkloric and mysterious.