The Muscular Lili Boulanger

 

 WOW!

Lili Boulanger's music remained hidden from me for quite a while. Then I stumbled upon this Everest recording from the 60's, remastered in the 90s.

Hers is a curious musical voice, but is decidedly French. The 24th Psalm goes gangbusters, with a feeling of the archaic medieval. The longer works have this humid, late-Romantic French feel, with strikingly thick orchestrations.

What a find! As to the recording, it features electric performances from these French ensembles and Ukrainian conductor. On the other hand, the sound quality is no great shakes and there is a rather short, LP-sourced runtime.
If you go somewhere else to hear these works, you may get better sonics, but the performances will always measure up flat comparatively.

But, the important part is to hear Boulanger's music. I would say this is the one to have, but search it out yourself regardless!

A review from 2021

What a surprise Lili Boulanger’s music is! Her symphonic choral works, represented here by her Psalm settings from the last years of her short life, are strikingly muscular, heroically ecstatic works to set the pulse a-pounding. Boulanger has a remarkably firm grasp on handling large orchestral and choral forces, particularly considering her extroverted musical manner. This music is a welcome discovery.

Her 24-minute Psalm 130 is the magnum opus here, and the only work on this recording that smoothly moves between thick French Romanticisms and modernist tendencies. It exhibits constant restless urgency, an atmosphere aided by both Mexican mezzo Oralia Dominguez’s throaty singing and the Elisabeth Brasseur Chorale’s intense outbursts, a symphonic choir I am unfamiliar with, but was most impressed by their full, confident sound. Psalm 130 is epic in scope, apocalyptic in tone, and I am thrilled to have experienced it.

The 4-minute Psalm 24 and 6-minute Psalm 129 are equally forthright, the former impressive for the Lamoureux Orchestra’s striking brass playing and pipe organ, almost medieval in tone and a thrilling curtain-raiser, and the latter for its operatic male chorus that could easily land in a John Barry film score.

The Old Buddhist Prayer is the most “French” sounding to my ears. Perhaps it is the returning exotic melody that strikes a similar note to Ravel and Debussy, but it too oozes mood and atmosphere confidently. The short Pie Jesu for boy soprano is lauded as a moving, tearful miniature, but I found the setting creepy and transient; again a little on the French side of things with its refusal to relinquish into resolution.

This 1960 stereo recording was an attempt for Nadia Boulanger to record her sister’s music for posterity and she has a strong advocate in conductor Igor Markevitch who leads the proceedings with intensity. The orchestra is not the most put-together ensemble, it has some scrappy moments, but French orchestras of the time have a singular sound world anyways. The French male soloists are apropos to the performance, and the chorus’ authoritative French is just so authentically engaging.

The Everest mid-90’s conversion is pretty good, but still vintage sounding. The loudest portions hit a peak on headphones, something I didn’t notice on speakers. The voices thrillingly jump out in front of the orchestra, yet the instrumentals are pretty punchy, and the organ provides noticeable depth to the sound. It is really a fine upgrade and can be found  on EMI  as well.

But we have received some advocacy lately for Lili Boulanger’s music that makes this recording lay more towards historical interest. YP Tortelier performs two Psalms alongside her Faust cantata, and it is not wishy-washy as some of their recordings could be, probably a leap ahead of Everest's recording. Also, Mark Stringer leads all of this music, plus a little more on Timpani with Luxembourg forces, but they don’t quite reach the heights of Markevitch’s vigour.

I will still highly recommend this Everest recording to the skies, both for Lili Boulanger’s stirring symphonic choral music and Igor Markevitch’s incisive leadership and idiomatic French sound. 45 minutes isn’t much of a runtime, but it is worth it despite quibbles over the 60’s vintage sound and scrappy French orchestra.

Listen on YouTube

 

Works
Psalm 130 (23.46)
Psalm 24 (3.25)
Psalm 129 (6.04)
Old Buddhist Prayer (7.09)
Pie Jesu (4.35)

Soloists
Alain Fauqueur, boy soprano
Oralia Dominguez, contralto
Michel, Senechal, tenor
Raymond Amade, tenor
Pierre Mollet, baritone
J. J. Grunenwald, organ
London Mozart Players

Ensembles
Elisabeth Brasseur Chorale
Lamoureux Orchestra
Igor Markevitch, conductor

Label: Everest
Year: 1960 / 1995
Total Timing: 47.25

 

The plusses far outweigh the minuses here, so this remains a key entry into The Oozy Keep.

There was another remastering of these performances on EMI, with the addition of chamber music, but I have not heard that one, so it might appeal more for the longer runtime.

Either way, find Boulanger's music now!

Find more Boulanger recordings HERE!