Nadia Boulanger - 3 Pieces for cello and piano (audio + sheet music)

At the turn of the 20th century, Paris culture tended to oscillate between the two extremes of elegant refinement and radical upheaval. Lili’s older sister Nadia Boulanger always chose the latter. Born in 1887, she was already enrolled in conservatory as an organ and composition student before the 19th century had finished. When her younger sister Lili Boulanger died in 1918, Nadia vowed she would never compose again. From then on she chose to conduct, teach composition and devote her life to the work of her departed sister. She started teaching in 1921 in Fontainebleau at the American Conservatory, of which she became director in 1948. Entire generations of composers were to call her nothing other than “Mademoiselle”, and she would live to the ripe age of 92 (1979).

Nadia Boulanger’s slim output included the Three Pieces for Cello and Piano which she wrote in 1915. The first piece in E flat minor features a long, extended cello melody with an Impressionist piano texture as accompaniment. The cello plays con sordino (muted), the pianist uses the soft pedal. In the second piece in A minor, the piano responds in close canon to the cello’s flippant figurations. The third piece in C sharp minor is a rough, grotesque dance with the indication “rapidly, with nervous rhythm."

(Naxos Music Library)

Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Change the quality to a minimum of 480pf the video is blurry.

Original audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfcUkVbyy9M
(Performance by: Dora Kuzmin, cello; Petra Gilming, piano)
Original sheet music: https://imslp.org/wiki/3_Pieces_for_Cello_and_Piano_(Boulanger%2C_Nadia)

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