For the midpoint of the album we return to the Boulanger sisters, and Lili Boulanger’s final work. Lili dictated Pie Jesu to Nadia whilst on her deathbed, and there is something of that reflected in the work’s haunting beauty. The piece was originally written for a solo voice accompanied by string quartet, harp and organ, but for the purposes of Evensong it works well for just voice and organ. I should say that I very nearly didn’t include it in this recording because it is one piece where I find you really miss the presence of a swell box on our organ. When I talked about it with the choir, though, they really wanted to record it—as did I—and so here we are. The descent and slowing into the final statement of the Pie Jesu, resolving into consonant harmony after the dissonance of the previous passages, always feels to me like Lili moving from the pain of the real world to the relief of death, the final Amen her soul ascending into heaven.

from notes by Anna Lapwood © 2022