"Psalterium" in Latin means both the psalter, or psalms collection, and is the name of a musical instrument, in French, the Psalterion, whose bow version can be considered as a distant ancestor of the cello. 

"I have wanted to give this title to the piece commissioned by Henri Demarquette and Catherine Simonpietri as part of their "Vocello" project to develop a repertoire for solo cello and choir. Psalterium, premiered on June 1st at the Beauvais Cello Festival (also a sponsor of the work), is composed from extracts of the Psalms of the Bible, in the contemporary French translation of the writers Olivier Cadiot and Marc Sevin.

This work is dedicated to the memory of my mother-in-law Renée Kervella."

Eric Montalbetti
Commissioned by Vocello and the Festival de Beauvais
for Henri Demarquette and the Choir Sequenza 9.3, conducted by Catherine Simonpietri

Concert date 
1 June 2018, Henri Demarquette (cello), Choir Sequenza 9.3, Catherine Simonpietri (cond.)
Festival de violoncelle de Beauvais, France

Full score ➡️ https://issuu.com/durand.salabert.eschig/docs/montalbetti_psalterium  
Website of the composer ➡️ https://www.ericmontalbetti.com/catalogue-projects