Berkeley / Stern - Lennox In Paris [CD]

British composer Sir Lennox Berkeley still needs to be more widely appreciated, and this recording puts his music into a wider context of the environment that shaped him. France played a vital part in Berkeley's development: apart from being a Francophile, circumstances brought him into contact with Nadia Boulanger, with whom he studied formally during the years 1926-1932, which Berkeley spent in Paris. While there he also met Francis Poulenc, among other artistic figures. This album is designed both to pay homage to Lennox and to acknowledge the pivotal role played by Paris in his life and development as a composer. It combines works by Berkeley with his Parisian near-contemporaries Poulenc and Lili Boulanger, the younger sister of Nadia.