`CHICHESTER PSALMS'

Soprano Carrie Williams is one of more than 160 singers who will perform Tuesday.

Five years ago, Dr. John Egbert directed 75 singers in the Choral Union and an orchestra of nine in a performance of Schubert's Mass in G.

Only last spring, the Chorale Union, University Choir and University Orchestra had grown to a mass of more than 200 performers and proved themselves equal to the challenges presented by Carl Orff's masterwork "Carmina Burana."

And Tuesday, 165 singers and 60 orchestra members will give a performance of Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms," a world-class orchestral work sung in Hebrew and rooted in both jazz and the music of the "old masters."

The quantum leap in the size of the performing groups and the challenges they are taking on was not a change of direction but an evolutionary process, Egbert says.

"Part of my job is to constantly evaluate where we are and take on literature that's challenging for the group I have to work with.

"As the group gets bigger and increases in performance ability, that increases my options."

Such daunting works are not attempted without trials. Some students dragged Egbert off to a Dairy Queen after the first dress rehearsal for "Carmina Burana." What better place to cool off?

The voluble Egbert was upset over all the mistakes the singers had made. But the errors were corrected and "Carmina Burana" was a thrilling success.

Egbert was much happier after the initial dress rehearsal for "Chichester Psalms." Although the demands of pitch, rhythm and text are formidable, the work is shorter than "Carmina Burana" and no doubt the choristers have benefited from the experience of singing the latter.

At that, he says, "We've had to fight it. It's not an easy work."

The united groups also will perform Randol Allen Bass' "Gloria," and the orchestra under the direction of Dr. Sara Edgerton will play Jean Silbelius' "Finlandia."

The performance will begin at 8 p.m. in Academic Auditorium. Admission is $4 for adults, $2 for students and seniors, and free with a university I.D.

"Chichester Psalms" was commissioned in 1965 while Bernstein was on a sabbatical from the New York Philharmonic. Chichester is one of three English cathedrals that join forces each year to hold a large music festival.

Based on six Psalms, including the well-known 23rd, "Chichester Psalms" consists of three movements. It originally was written for a male choir and boy soloist. Soprano Tamara Brannon, a Southeast graduate who lives in Parma, will be the soloist Tuesday.

The work incorporates a glockenspiel and bongos, and employs meters that range from 7/4 to 10/4. The melodies are beautiful but come in fragments from different sections of the chorus.

Adding to the difficulty is the unusualness of singing choral music in Hebrew, Egbert said. Translations will be provided in the program.

After the success of "Carmina Burana," Egbert worried about how the Choral Union could top itself. "I finally came to the realization that I wasn't going to top it," he said. "We had to do something completely different from `Carmina Burana.'"

"Gloria" is a traditional concert fanfare piece. "Finlandia," written at the turn of the century, took on new significance during Finland's resistance to Nazi occupation in World War II.

"The orchestra would play it and the audiences would join in," Egbert said. "When you've got 3,000 people in a concert hall it's hard to get them to stop without shooting everybody."