Lili Boulanger - Du Fond De L'Abîme · Psaume 24 · Psaume 129 · Vieille Prière Bouddhique · Pie Jesu

Hauntingly lyrical and revolutionary choir pieces completed by Lili Boulanger during the First World War, before her passing at a tragically young age, 10 days before Claude Debussy. Both composers set the music of the 20th century in motion. Highest recommandation.

 Lili Boulanger was 24 when she passed away at the end of the First World War, leaving a relatively large corpus of works, featuring some of the most groundbreaking classical compositions of the early 20th century. The choir pieces featured on this late 1950's recording seem to me like a blueprint for Hollywood's golden age composers, from Alfred Newman to Bernard Herrmann; and that's probably historically accurate, as they must have been passed along to US composers via her sister, the highly influential music teacher Nadia Boulanger. They initiate a new form of tragic melancholy, that fits the equally tragically flamboyant nature of a century of excesses.

All of the pieces are inspired by religious motives, mostly christian, but also buddhist, in the case of what I consider her greatest composition, "Vielle Prière Bouddhique", that, again reminds me more of the score of Walt Disney's Old Mill than of any eastern Asia religious song. Grandiose and intimate, all at once. (VG+/VG+)

Tracklist

1. Du Fond De L'abîme
2. Psaume 24
3. Psaume 129
4. Vieille Prière Bouddhique
5. Pie Jesu