A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

I know cover art has no bearing on the music, but it is often the first source of inspiration between the music consumer and their music.

If you were a music consumer pre-internet, cover art could very well sway one to purchase a recording. I must say, this is a terrible way to approach music, for cover art has as much to say about recorded music as picking a horse to win a race based on their name or color.

While I am a music appreciator, I am also an art appreciator, and I love learning more about art on covers. I sometimes wonder how cover editors choose the portions of an artwork, especially when they leave something out.

I recently reviewed a Hummel recording (here), where the cover art is a portrait of some long-gone Lord. Yet the cover image left no image of that person to view, only a very specific place within the painting.

Here we have Botticelli's Coronation of the Virgin with Four Saints, which is posted here for perusal. The cover of this recording chooses a very central image, however, it must be a tiny fraction of the complete piece of art. Why, how, when, who, where does one make these decisions?

Well, as mentioned before, the cover art has very little to do with the music, and is mere mindless speculation from this listener.

Here, we have a recording of Boulanger's vocal cantata Faust and Helen. I am told this recording Faust pales in imitation to Igor Markevitch's. I could believe this, as Markevitch's recording of the Psalms on Everest are an electric performance, but in scrappy sound; I would expect Faust to be the same, and will post the video at the bottom for anyone interested.

Yet, I don't mind this performance at all. I like the singers, I like the sound, and Boulanger should be heard by everyone interested in Classical Music; she has an eye-raising musical voice which needs as much exposure as it can get!

A review from 2024

The famously short-lived composer Lili Boulanger had a distinctively French air about her music, one which is notable for being muscular, thick-set in its orchestral colours, and often with sumptuous atmosphere, bearing obvious influences from Debussy and Wagner.

The two orchestral-only tone poems display these features the strongest for me, perhaps because they exist without voice. Boulanger is a marvel at setting winds, particularly the low-range ones. I might prefer the perkier spring morning over the night evocations, but both are plush works for orchestra.

The two Psalms couldn’t be more different from each other. The short Psalm 24 is a brass and pipe organ, full-throated choral extravaganza, with undercurrents of the Medieval. On the other hand, Psalm 130 holds its secrets back, and its mysteries unfold and revel over its much longer 24-minute runtime.

The big news is the rarely recorded Faust and Helen. It is labelled as a cantata, but an operatic scene might be more apt, for its contains three characters portrayed by vocal soloists, yet no chorus. These might not be the mightiest of soloists, but I generally enjoyed my time with them. Particularly the gentle opening with Mephistopheles, while the very heroic, Italianate tenor Bonaventura Bottone rises into ecstasies with soprano Lynne Dawson, all British vocalists.

This Chandos recording joins a short list of orchestral programs dedicated to Boulanger’s choral/orchestral music: the classic Igor Markevitch  and Mark Stringer on Timpani . The former is my preference, for it is exciting and bold, even if it has older, scrappier sound and performances, yet both recordings contain authentic French singers. Each recording, including this Chandos one, bears works the others don’t have, so for completists, they will all want to be heard.

I enjoyed my time with this recording though, and while I might prefer Markevitch, it was good to finally hear Faust and Helen.

Listen on YouTube

 

Works
Psalm 24 (3.25)
Psalm 130 (24.08)
Faust and Helene (30.05)
D'un soir triste (10.37)
D'un matin de printemps (4.42)

Soloists
Lynne Dawson, soprano
Ann Murray, mezzo-soprano
Bonaventura Bottone, tenor
Neil MacKenzie, tenor
Jason Howard, bass

Ensembles
City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Yan Pascal Tortelier, conductor

Label: Chandos
Year: 1999
Total Timing: 73.24

 

 Over 70 minutes of music from the short-lived Lili Boulanger is a boon any way you look at it.

These British performers might not be the end-all in this music, but who can complain? This music demands to be heard, and so I will stand on my bully-pulpit and do so!

 

Find more Boulanger recordings HERE!

Video 1: Jean Fournet
Video 2: Igor Markevitch