This is one of Lili Boulanger’s first pieces, written in 1911, two years before her victory in the Prix de Rome for composition. Her early death at the age of twenty-four robbed the world of a composer whose mature music – from the last five years of her short life – is notable for its startling originality and stark beauty. That mixture of sensuousness and austerity can be heard even in this early work with its hints of Debussy and of the elegant restraint of her teacher, Fauré.

© Nigel Simeone