Commentarium

Beethoven was right; music is humanity's gift to itself. Everyone who listens to music wants to feel immediately connected to the music emotionally. Music doesn't teach anyone anything, you teach yourself by listening to music. Your mass takes the listener instantly to that place where the words of the mass come to life and have real meaning. Just as all the great works of liturgical music are humble expressions of the text so it is with your music; it brings the power of the words to life and glorifies the human spirit. To say nothing of how rare it is to have such a sincere expression of music in today's world of dross and mindless repetition.

— Hunter Murtagh, advertising music director

— Alan Menken Oscar-winning composer
Knowing Tom McFaul as a master craftsman of the catchy, concise, pop jingle, it was a complete revelation for me to hear his brilliant and compelling Mass in C minor. This work makes an invaluable contribution to the worlds of liturgical music and serious composition. Bravo Thomas G. McFaul!

Your Mass in C minor might not have an easy time at rock radio, but nevertheless you persisted and have produced a great work.

The site is very nice. I especially enjoyed the gardening part. Gardening is, I realize, superior to music in a number of ways.

It never lulls you into believing that there is a possiblility of making a living from it.
Gardening is never too loud. It is rare to find a drummer in a garden.
In gardening, unlike the record biz, it is legal to attempt to exterminate the pests.

— Tony Levin, bassist

— Paul Shaffer Music Director, CBS Orchestra
Tom McFaul's Mass in C minor is a gorgeous piece of work; beautifully conceived and impeccably executed. Tom — how did you do it?

	Tom McFaul's Mass in C minor is a profoundly moving homage to the baroque. It is filled with resplendent choruses, brilliant virtuoso counterpoint, and deeply felt emotion and religiosity. It should have a long and continued life in performances by both professional and amateur groups, presented either in its entirety or as selections from its variety of wonderful movements.
	— Maury Yeston composer and lyricist

— Robert Duerr, conductor
Thomas McFaul's Mass in C minor is baroque-like in its musical style and traditional harmonies, while being original with colors of textual interpretation and turns of phrases. Listening to this wonderful Mass is inspirational and refreshing because the great texts come alive, thanks to beautiful orchestral playing and glorious singing.

I, too, was not sure what I was going to do on September 11. Ended up going to work after watching the morning ceremonies.

That night, I removed myself into the realm of your Mass. The ancient foundations in your music, the adoration expressed in it, offered me a portal into reverent space. Let me tell you, it is a wonderful thing to listen to your music as one who is musically uninformed. It is spirit feeding to personally respond to its beauty. Your work transported me to where my heart needed to be on the evening of September 11.

This I know: the Mass comforted me with its exploration of what I perceive to be the human spirit's essential yearning for infinite mystery. I listened to the Mass alone, as I wanted to do, but its mystery caused me to recognize that I yearn for spiritual relief as countless others do. From that perspective, the Mass reminded me that I am part of a world community. Very comforting, especially on a day when ceremony tested the strength of collective, emotional scar tissue formed since September 11, 2001.

— Mike, a Connecticut dirt farmer
with leanings toward jam planting

Thank you for the link to your friend's site. I'm listening to the Gloria as I write this. Beautiful. I'm going to order the CD. (Also by coincidence I just finished a Deborah Crombie mystery set in Glastonbury, in which it turned out — according to Crombie's theory — that the Holy Grail was actually a transcendent state monks achieved by singing a particular kind of sacred music. Tom's music makes me think this is indeed possible.

— Anonymous

What I expected to be a short trip through familiar territory, turned into a journey I wanted to linger upon. To begin, I love the fact that you have so many great links included. I would have to return many times to run out of tangents to explore. I adore the personal flavor that permeates all the page names, lists and other commentary around the site. May i also add a few questions to your answers posted there:

Who are the members of the Bogmoor Chamber Orchestra?
Who was the lead vocalist of the pussies?
(And in my ignorance) What is an objet trouvée?

And ... the photo gallery is exquisite! I wanted to crawl in beside the Buddha, gaze out interminably from the room with a view, sit sipping a julep surreptitiously listening to the singing blues (hopefully perched on Julian's swing), all on a morning glorious! Oh, and on this eve of Yom Kippur, I can't help thinking that your post and lintel structure more closely resembles 'chai' henge — but indeed, the Celts are there. Well Tom, I hope this has addressed any of the questions you may have been harboring. I await the future seasonal views.

— Amy Whitman

— Johannes Leadington
Too complex!