The more I hear serious compositions by Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), the more I regret that he wasted so much of his time as a showy conductor.
The Chichester Psalms is a three-part choral work on Hebrew psalm texts. Bernstein composed the work in the spring of 1965, commissioned by Walter Hussey, the dean of Chichester Cathedral. The text (Psalms nos. 100, 23 and 131 in full, plus individual verses from Psalms nos. 108, 2 and 133) was assembled by the composer.
The scoring is for boy alto (alternatively countertenor), solo quartet, boys' and men's choir (alternatively mixed choir) and orchestra (three trumpets, three trombones, timpani, large percussion, two harps and strings). Bernstein also created a chamber version in which the instrumentation is reduced to organ, one harp, and percussion (as in the below performance). The composer specified that the solo role be sung only by a boy alto or countertenor, but not by a female voice. The use of the Hebrew language is also obligatory. Both specifications were intended to emphasize the liturgical character of the work.
Some parts of the compositional materials were taken from early sketches of Bernstein's West Side Story as well as a never-completed musical version of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth ("We've Got Away Once More"). The Chichester Psalms were Bernstein's first major composition after the 3rd Symphony "Kaddish" (Kaddish = Jewish prayer for the dead), a work full of mourning and despair that Bernstein had composed in memory of J. F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963. Despite all the conflicts, the Psalms contrast the Kaddish with a confident, conciliatory and positive underlying tendency.
The 1st movement, introduced by a large choir ("Awake, psaltery and harp" Ps 108:3), has the character of a cheerful song and dance ("Jauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt," Ps 100). In the 2nd movement, a gentle melody ("The Lord is my shepherd," Ps 23) sung by the soloist and the high voices of the choir contrast with the rhythmically propulsive low choral voices ("Why do the heathen rage," Ps 2). In the 3rd movement, an instrumental introduction is followed by a contemplative flowing choral chant ("Lord, my heart is not haughty," Ps 131), which leads into the prayer for peace of the final chorus ("Behold, how good and lovely," Ps 133:1).
Listen to: Le Choeur et la Maîtrise de Radio France dirigés par Sofi Jeannin et accompagnés de l'organiste Yves Castagnet, de la harpiste Iris Torossian et du percussionniste Emmanuel Curt