Enjoyably working my way through the latest cornucopia of live recordings from the 'BBC Legends' archive included in the latest 20CD collection (Vol 4) from ica. I've arrived at CD7, a record of a rather remarkable musical event. In 1968, when she was in her her eighties, Nadia Boulanger conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in three works by Lili Boulanger (commemorating the 50th anniversary of her sister’s death, aged 24) and the Requiem by her teacher, Gabriel Fauré.
I did not know Lili Boulanger's major work, a profound setting of the penitential Psalm 130, Du fond de l’ abîme (From the abyss I cry to you). She died shortly after its completion and it can be seen as her own requiem.
Worth noting that the concert was recorded in the Fairfield Hall, Croydon, a frequent haunt of ours when we lived there for a couple of years. It has been sad to read about its recent decline of as a venue for classical music.
I did not know Lili Boulanger's major work, a profound setting of the penitential Psalm 130, Du fond de l’ abîme (From the abyss I cry to you). She died shortly after its completion and it can be seen as her own requiem.
Worth noting that the concert was recorded in the Fairfield Hall, Croydon, a frequent haunt of ours when we lived there for a couple of years. It has been sad to read about its recent decline of as a venue for classical music.
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