Prom 44 – Debussy, Ravel & Boulanger

Part of the BBC Proms.

The CBSO and Ludovic Morlot mark two major centenaries in this all-French programme. In the centenary of his death, Debussy is celebrated in the languorous beauty of Pr?lude a l’apres-midi d’un faune, as well as the Nocturnes with their shifting, shimmering play of musical light. Lili Boulanger, whose death in 1918 at the age of just 24 cut short a career of extraordinary promise, is represented by her powerful setting of Psalm 130 – a musical howl of grief composed at the height of the First World War. Ravel’s Bolero closes the evening with its hypnotic Spanish dance rhythm and swirling orchestral colours.