Kaddish / Chichester Psalms
Leonard Bernstein'sKaddish, Symphony No. 3, from 1963 is probably his most  famous. It's dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy, and comprises spoken and sung texts  from Jewish prayers for the dead. It's quite dramatic, very listenable, and not at all pretentious, as  some critics have avowed. It ranks with Shostakovich's harrowing Symphony No. 14 and deserves more  attention than it usually gets. Which is damned little. The same goes for Bernstein'sChichester  Psalms(1964). It's a very engaging choral work that celebrates the practice of psalmody or  choral festivals, a kind of celebratory music we don't hear much.--Paul Cook