''The Beauty That Still Remains'' is a full-length

choral A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

work by Norwegian composer

Marcus Paus Marcus Nicolay Paus (; born 14 October 1979) is a Norwegian composer and one of the most performed contemporary Scandinavian composers. As a classical contemporary composer he is noted as a representative of a reorientation toward tradition, tonal ...

, that is based on ''

The Diary of a Young Girl ''The Diary of a Young Girl'', commonly referred to as ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', is a book of the writings from the Dutch language, Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Neth ...

'' by

Anne Frank Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new li ...

, and has received critical acclaim. It was commissioned by the

Government of Norway The Council of State () is a formal body composed of the most senior government minister (government), ministers chosen by the Prime Minister of Norway, Prime Minister, and functions as the collective decision-making organ constituting the Go ...

for the official Norwegian 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in 2015, and written for the Norwegian Girls' Choir, historically the girl's choir of the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

; it premiered in 2015 in the Atrium of the University of Oslo (where the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

was formerly awarded), and the premiere was opened by Minister of Defence Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide. It was released on the 2020 studio album ''The Beauty That Still Remains'' by the Norwegian Girls' Choir alongside

Maja Ratkje Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje (born 29 December 1973 in Trondheim, Norway) is a Norwegian vocalist and composer. She plays on vocals and elektronics instruments. Career Ratkje studied composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo und ...

's avant-garde choral work ''Asylos''.

Content and reception

The libretto is written by Paus based on Anne Frank's diary and includes edited parts of it. It includes eleven movements: "Prologue: Dearest Kitty," "The World Transformed I", "Cadenza I," "Empty Days," "Cadenza II," "Prescription for Gunfire Jitters," "A Portrait of Anne," "Intimations of Love," "Cadenza III," "The World Transformed II" and "Epilogue: The Beauty That Still Remains." The work "takes its title from one of the most famous, defiant, and affecting quotes from ''The Diary of Anne Frank''": Guy Rickards noted in ''

Gramophone A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physic ...

'':

Album

In 2020 the studio album ''The Beauty That Still Remains'' by the Norwegian Girls' Choir was released by 2L; it includes Paus' eponymous work as well as

's avant-garde choral work ''Asylos''.The Beauty That Still Remains
/ref> Music critic Ola Nordal described the work as "a masterpiece." Dominy Clements noted that the album is "filled with intriguing juxtapositions, with children’s songs and games rubbing shoulders with Gregorian chant, spoken word and beautiful singing and all kinds of theatrical scenes being created and as quickly dissolved into jaw-dropping moments of unexpected stylistic and musical counterpoint."

References

Compositions by Marcus Paus Choral compositions Cultural depictions of Anne Frank Songs about the Holocaust Classical music about the Holocaust Works based on diaries {{classical-composition-stub