Total immersion weekends can prove tricky. The established masters don’t need them, while lesser-known figures often turn out to be relatively obscure for sound reasons. Nonetheless, there are plenty of composers whose works are too rarely performed, not so much through neglect as because of the awkwardness of their demands — huge orchestras and choruses, or unlikely combinations of forces.
The Boulangers present in all respects a special case. Lili, the marvellously gifted composer, died at the age of 24, while her sister Nadia, who gave up composition after some early successes because she wisely realised that she was no match for her sister, went on ‘mentoring’, in one way or another, countless musicians, performers and composers, especially North Americans, from Copland to Carter, with some influence on Stravinsky along the way. Both of them were amazing: how many composers, however long-lived, could survive a series of concerts dedicated to works written before they were 25? A few, but not the greatest.
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