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The first major choral setting of The Diary of Anne Frank takes the teenager’s remarkable and penetrating observations, written whilst hiding in an Amsterdam attic, as the basis of its extraordinary and moving libretto. Whitbourn’s music for this work has been described as “woundingly beautiful” (The Daily Telegraph). He reflects sounds of the Westerkerk bells and tunes heard on the radio in the Annexe, along with representations of Anne Frank’s Jewish and German heritage, details that add to a score “whose respectful understatement is its greatest strength” (The Times).
James Whitbourn: Annelies (chamber version)
I. Introit - Prelude
II. The capture foretold
III. The plan to go into hiding
IV. The last night at home and arrival at the Annexe
V. Life in hiding
VI. Courage
VII. Fear of capture and the second break-in
VIII. Kyrie - Sinfonia (Help us, rescue us from this hell)
IX. The dream
X. Devastation of the outside world
XI. Passing of time
XII. The hope of liberation and a spring awakening
XIII. The capture and the concentration camp
XIV. Anne's meditation
February 2013
***
“Whitbourn's loving imitation of Bachian chorale in 'Courage', and the poignant lyrical intertwining of voices and instruments in 'Kyrie Sinfonia', are...moments when words and music meld impressively together. Where Whitbourn reacts to the text in more explicitly theatrical fashion, Annelies is less convincing...The performance as a whole, however, is well prepared and palpably committed, as befits a premiere recording.”
February 2013
“the greatest accomplishment here is that James Whitbourn has created some music of great beauty, without trespassing into the realm of the cloying. Not only does that release one to listen to the work's oases of soaring melody...with impunity but leaves the integriy of such an important piece of literature, and history, intact.”
20th January 2013
“James Whitbourn sets [the text] with such tender respect it's almost impossible to hear without tears...Arianna Zukerman sings with subdued beauty and the Princeton University Westminster Williamson Voices shape Whitbourn's exquisite lines (and Bach-like chorales) with deft precision.”
I. Introit - Prelude
