Proms 2018 Prom 44: Debussy, Ravel & Boulanger

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 Prélude à l’après-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 Boléro closes the evening with its hypnotic Spanish dance rhythm and swirling orchestral colours.

Image: Justina Gringytė © Paul Marc Mitchell