A Great Lost Talent

Wonderful music from Lili Boulanger; Psalm 24, Psalm 129, Vielle Priere Buouddhique and Du Fond de l'Abime ( based on psalm 130 ) for contralto, tenor, chorus, organ and orchestra. Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and Monteverdi Choir under John Eliot Gardiner with soloists Sally Bruce-Payne and Julian Podger. Lili Boulanger's story is a tantalising one of what might have been because she very sadly died aged just 25 in 1918. Younger sister of the formidable 20th century teacher Nadia, Lili was a winner of the Prix de Rome and wrote these settings while in studying in Rome as part of the prize. They are wonderfully mature sounding works in which it is possible to hear some of Debussy and certain Russian orientalists but there's also much that is totally original and committed. Had she been spared she would surely have been a major force and who knows what kind of a role model for other aspiring female composers. The disk is rounded out by a performance of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms which I've already talked about in the robert Craft recording I have. Suffice it to say that Boulanger's works do not suffer at all in comparison.