Sand Floor Cathedral (Interview transcript)

Composing Sandfloor Cathedral began almost immediately after I read this passage from the Book of Psalms, "So is this great and wide sea wherein are things creeping innumerable. Both small and great beasts. There go the ships, there is that leviathan whom Thou hast made to play therein. These wait upon Thee." It’s like the vast power and the spiritual quality of the sea sprang into immediate action in my mind and the opening chorale was written within minutes of me reading that passage. I chose to use additional passages from the Old Testament, from the Latin Mass, and from the First Book of Moses which I had performed in Hebrew. I had to have the text transliterated in order for the singers to prepare the music.

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