Leonard Bernstein “Chichester Psalms”

Bernstein in his Fairfield Connecticut studio. Note the Grammys, Emmys and Oscar on the shelves behind him.

Leonard Bernstein excerpts “Chichester Psalms”
 - Live Performance
Greater Hazleton Oratorio Society, Robert L. Edwards
 - 1978

(If the performance excerpt does not begin to play automatically within 30 seconds, you can click this link. "Chichester Psalms excerpts" .)

Leonard Bernstein was the most-gifted all-around musician in the history of the human race. While clearly there were composers of greater stature, conductors and teachers of his equal, no other person ever excelled with such complete and accomplished versatility as a pianist, conductor, composer, teacher, philosopher and humanitarian. Any one of those personas could have provided him with a full and distinguished career. But Bernstein multi-tasked his talents as a neo-Renaissance man. He brought insight and soul to everything with which he was associated.

“Chichester Psalms” may be Bernstein’s most popular work. Written on commission for the Archbishop of Canterbury, the three movement piece, sung in the original Hebrew, uses texts from Psalms 108, 100, 23, 2, and 131. It is music that expresses his deeply felt religion. Recording is from the second concert by the Greater Hazleton Oratorio Society I conducted in 1978.

In order to provide permanent documentation of the important sociological and musical contributions of the Greater Hazleton Oratorio Society, Singers’ Guild of Scranton and Sinfonia da Camera to the lives of residents in Northeastern Pennsylvania, some of the 1977-1986 live performance analog recordings of these community groups were rescued, restored, and converted to a digital format. Those restorations and the performance excerpts that appear on this website are intended as historical documents not as an entertainment product. The copying or dissemination of these excerpts is strictly prohibited.

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