James MacMillan on faith and music 

I like the ascetic beauty of James MacMillan’s music, although I do not share his faith of Roman Catholicism. There is a purity about it which I think elevates its beauty and I hope will make it a lasting treasure.

Sir. Roger Scruton sent me here.

Mac catches the soul of Celtic devotion though the eons;

@EdwardWhelanPiano Maybe, but MacMillan has also written some of the most passionate, complex yet accessible Christian music since Messaien: the St. John Passion, Cantos Sagrados, Visitatio Sepulchri...These works not only affirm faith in God and Christ but also confront the dark side of Christianity's past and present. Don't mistake MacMillan for another Whitacre or Rutter--he is a truly creative composer whose epics are among the closest modern-day equivalents to Bach's Passions.

Have his autobiography.. not read it yet.

@Verschrankung, oh yes, 'Veni, Veni, Emmanuel' springs to my mind as an example of where religion can inspire something good. This music may affirm the composers belief, (Haydn and Messiaen were believers). It may just serve as inspiration, (Brahms and Vaughan Williams were agnostic). Whatever the belief of the composer, religion can influence good music. My argument is that congregational music is bad for the reasons I gave below. MacMillan is better than that.

Some really good music has been inspired by religion. Bach's Passions, Mozart's Masses and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis are examples of where religion has inspired great art. Music for the congregation, on the other hand, is designed to be as simple as possible so they can learn and remember it as quickly as possible. This is where music inspired by religion becomes merely a tool to perpetuate mythological prejudice. One recalls the chanting in Nineteen Eighty-Four, "B-B!...B-B!...B-B!".

"..where music inspired by religion becomes merely a tool to perpetuate mythological prejudice." What a desperately sententious remark serving only to patronise people who happen to believe differently. People go to worship volluntarily, and indeed in the current aggressively secular climate (in this country at least), they are going against the grain of easy conventionality whenever they do so. It is they who wish to be involved, rather than the church finding tools to "perpetuate" anything.

I am a tenor, and his music, while lovely, seems pitched a bit high for most male voices.