| Cathedrals are
inspiring places, or so I thought before I walked into
the world's largest Gothic cathedral on a rainly night in
April of 1985. As I entered the immense emptiness of the
Cathedral of St. John the Divine to record this album, I
was anything but inspired. |
| Cold? Yes.
(Cathedrals have always been horrendous to heat.) Scared?
Quite. Inspired? Well, I felt more at peace after the
security guards and tech folks consented to sit with me
in prayer. Afterwards, it was hard to get up, not because
we were deep in meditation, but because we were so sore
from sitting on the cold stone floor in front of the high
alter. |
| The second night
began with a heartfelt reunion with my father and
stepmother who were in Manhattan on business for the
first time in years (hence, Thou Art My Father.) An old
Oberlin friend, Anne Jacobsen, whom I hadn't seen in
seven years, stopped by the recording session. I asked
her to sit beside me at the piano while I composed Song
for Annie which is also dedicated to another Annie who
committed suicide shortly before the album was first
released on cassette. |
| The heart of the
tradition that inspired the Cathedral's sacred
architecture inspired many of the selections on Cathedral
as well (my previous admission to the contrary.) A
notable exception is the arrangement of Raghupati
Raghava, based on one of Mahatma Gandi's favorite
devotional chants. (This is the only cut I didn't write;
I learned it from the soundtrack of the movie Gandi.) |
| The only other song
on Cathedral that didn't simply spontaneously emerge
during the course of the two nights recording was The
Open Heart Cries Softly whose melody derives from a song
I had previously written by the same title. |
| Deep gratitude to
Paul Winter, Susan Osborn, Richard Cooke, Cathy Cowles,
Richard Perl, Martha Eddy, Bethleigh Flanagan, Puja, Roop
Verma, Liz Cummings, Orea Williams, and my mom, Jeane
Kelso, who passed away this past year but whose love
lives on. Special thanks to Stuart at Kelso Productions
for helping this recording find its way to CD. (Oh yes,
and to God, for inspiring cathedrals and the music to
fill them.) |
| And, finally thanks
to all of you who over the years have worn out your
cassettles of Cathedral from constant use. If you wear
out your CD, I'll give you a new one. Honest! |
| I Dedicate this CD
version of Cathedral to my dad, Lynn Kelso, whose embrace
greeted me as I left a side chapel in preparation for the
second night of recording, and whose belief in me will
stay with me always. |
| Mark
Kelso, March, 1995 |
