La Lumiere

La Lumière

“Pie Jesu - Lili Boulanger”, Bauwien van der Meer & friends: - Live on NPO 2 at Podium Klassiek, December 4 2022

The new CD La Lumière by soprano Bauwien van der Meer will be released on Thursday December 1 2022. The album is based on the masterpiece Pie Jesu by Lili Boulanger. The French composer wrote it for a very unusual line-up: soprano, string quartet, harp and organ.

Lili Boulanger belongs to the first generation of women to be admitted to the conservatory and was in 1913 the first female composer to win the prestigious Prix de Rome. She was exteremly telaneted and grew up in a family of musicians. Unfortunately she died young. Initially her music sounded impressionistic, Debussy-esque. However Lili Boulanger soon created a style all of her own: more powerful, more angular. She was a master of timbre and instrumentation. The Pie Jesu is an excellent example of this. It is her last work. It sounds heavenly and painful at the same time. If you didn't know you had a soul, you'll know after listening to this work. Boulanger makes you feel that you are alive, but also makes you aware that it can end abruptly. The Pie Jesu is sometimes called her own requiem.

Other female composers have also composed or edited work especially for this album. The Dutch composer, singer and conductor Monique Krüs wrote Je vis, je meurs especially for this album to texts by the French Louise Labé. The Belgian Annelies van Parys has adapted her work Medea for La Lumière and Ig Henneman did the same with her own work Hinter den Wand, which she gave a new name: Beweis zu nichts.
Trailer CD release:

Bauwien van der Meer made the album together withe the Helikon Quartet, harpist Doriene Marselje and organist Gerrie Meijers. The album features both a Sauer organ and a Utopa baroque organ. La Lumière is released on Etcetera Records.

The CD has been released on December 1 2022 and has been available everywhere from the first week of December.

For registration on the CD and to have it sent to you, please contact Bauwien van der Meer: bauwienvandermeer@gmail.com