LILI BOULANGER

Lili Boulanger: Faust et Hélène etc.

Of the handful of women composers whose work has been rediscovered only in the last decade or so, none has seemed a more tragic case than Lili Boulanger, sister of the composer and pianist Nadia, who died aged twenty-four in 1918. This recording includes two psalm settings as well as the thirty-minute cantata Faust et Hélène, a thrilling, musically seductive setting of Goethe fully deserving of a wider audience.

When he made this recording one of Gramophone's Critics Choice in January 2000, Lionel Salter wrote, 'I was overwhelmed by the revelation of Lili Boulanger's Faust et Hélène, a work that still strikes me as of sheer genius'. The CD went on to win the Gramophone Award for best Orchestral Recording of the Year.

"...There is a distinguished team of soloists (Lynne Dawson and Bonaventura Bottone in the cantata and Ann Murray in one of the Psalms) and first-rate contributions from the Birmingham chorus and the BBC Philharmonic under Yan-Pascal Tortelier. An altogether magical collection."

The Pengiun Guide – 1000 Greatest Classical Recordings 2011-12

Yan Pascal Tortelier’s performance is the one to get.. The whole disc is charged with his missionary zeal, and the BBC Philharmonic plays wonderfully for him.
An exceptional disc from Chandos… Strongly recommended
…it is a real success, the rendering is very beautiful, voices are warm, and coloured and the orchestra is sometimes dynamic and other times tender. This CD will serve marvellously the music of Lili Boulanger.
THE BBC Philharmonic on their best form… their feeling for the heart of these pieces is led by the inspired and deeply compelling insights into the scores of Yan Pascal Tortelier

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