Every summer, Chichester Cathedral in Sussex joins its neighbours in Winchester and Salisbury for one of Britain's biggest festivals of church music: the Southern Cathedral's Festival. For the 1965 edition, Leonard Bernstein was commissioned to write the Chichester Psalms, which have since become very popular. This work in three parts is based on Hebrew psalms, which Bernstein put together himself to emphasise their liturgical character. The year the Chichester Psalms were premiered, Bernstein was on a year-long sabbatical from his post at the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, an opportunity he used to compose. He recounts: "At the time, for a year I composed almost exclusively dodecaphony, and even more experimental stuff. I was happy to let these new sounds emerge; but after about six months of work, I threw it all away. It wasn't my music, it wasn't sincere. Then there were the Chichester Psalms - certainly the clearest tonal piece in B major I've ever composed.
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