Day 162
Lilli Boulanger D’un matin de printemps
Orchestra national de Lyon
Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider
Lilli Boulanger is one of the great ‘might have beens’ of French music. She was the first woman to win the music prize at the Prix de Rome and she was beginning to establish herself as a significant presence before her tragic death at the age of only 25. Her sister Nadia also composed but she never thought herself the equal of her sister and of course Nadia went on to be the most influential music teacher of the first half of the 20th century.
I’d not heard any of Lilli Boulanger’s music before - it has the reputation of being quite intense and serious but this piece - a portrait of a spring morning - is very genial and attractive. It is very obviously French in style and, particularly, orchestration, but at times seems to be looking forward to some of the textures in Stravinsky’s Firebird. There is a huge confidence in this music - remarkable for one so young and one can see why her early death was such a tragedy for the development of French music. I certainly want to discovery more of her music in due course.
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