Mozart's Requiem and Bernstein's Chichester Psalms | Thames Philharmonic Choir

The Chichester Psalms, Leonard Bernstein’s most iconic work for choir and orchestra, is performed to commemorate the centenary of the composer’s birth. The setting of six psalms, written for the Southern Cathedrals festival in Chichester in 1965, displays Bernstein’s diversity and skill as one of America’s greatest 20th-C musicians.

Samuel Barber was Bernstein’s contemporary and equally renowned compatriot. His heart-achingly beautiful Adagio for Strings has been played on many occasions of international mourning, including President Kennedy’s assassination, the death of Princess Diana, and following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Mozart was composing his first ever Requiem on his own death-bed. He never completed the work, which promised so much for the future. The first eight bars of the Lacrimosa were the last words he set to music to mark ‘that day of tears and mourning’.