James Whitbourn: The Choral Collection

James Whitbourn has become renowned throughout the world for his acclaimed compositions and settings of numerous texts. He has been described as truly originaland an innovator of contemporary British choral music, collaborating with people like Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. The former appears here, as A Prayer Of Desmond Tutu, a setting ofone of the Archbishop's prayers. His arrangements and compositions for the King's College Choir have been universally critically acclaimed, with A Great And Mighty Wonder, Nunc Dimittis and Were You There?representing these hugely popular collaborations.

Whitbourn has also had a very close relationship with the BBC since his beginnings as a composer, working with them on three pieceswithin The Choral Collection. Eternal Rest and Give Us The Wings Of Faith were both composed specifically for television broadcast, the former (in its orchestral form) was played for thefuneral of the Queen Mother in 2002. His longest work, for which he is most famous, is a setting of text from'the Diary of Anne Frank'. There Is No Speech Or Language comes from this work, taking its text from othersources, but that still maintain the beauty and tragedy of the wider piece.

The Choral Collection of fifteen compositions by James Whitbourn is full of beautiful, haunting,