Lili Boulanger – Igor Strawinsky – Leonard Bernstein

Between Heaven and Sound – Psalms in Orchestral Ecstasy

A religion without music? It’s hard to imagine. Music lends itself almost instinctively to expressing the ineffable – those experiences that reach beyond the everyday – perhaps because it, too, is often understood (in the best sense) as an irrational realm. It is hardly surprising, then, that all three composers featured here turned to the Psalms of the Old Testament, transforming their mysticism into sound.

Matters of Faith in Sound

Each approaches this material in a distinctly personal way, shaped by different circumstances. Lili Boulanger composed her settings in 1917–18 under the pressure of four years of war and her own failing health; the two works heard here are among the last she completed. Stravinsky’s engagement with the Psalms reflects his renewed connection with the Russian Orthodox Church in the late 1920s, while Bernstein’s »Chichester Psalms« grew out of a deeply personal exploration of his Jewish heritage and faith.

This programme is performed by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Rundfunkchor Berlin in two formats: on Friday as a shorter Casual Concert (without the Boulanger works), and on Saturday in its full version, featuring all four pieces.