McCartney Returns To Classical Music On New Album

Momentarily stepping away from rock’n’roll, Paul McCartney will release his next classical project, “Ecce Cor Meum,” Sept. 26 via EMI Classics. Eight years in the making, “Ecce Cor Meum” (Latin for “Behold My Heart”) will be McCartney‘s fourth classical album since 1991’s “The Liverpool Oratorio.”

The piece was commissioned by former Magdalen College president Anthony Smith in hopes McCartney would create “a choral piece which could be sung by young people the world over in the same way that Handel’s Messiah is.”

The album, an Oratorio in four movements, is scored for choir and orchestra, with lyrics that combine English and Latin. It was given its first preview performance in 2001 by the Magdalen College Choir, which was conducted by Bill Ives at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford.

“Ecce Cor Meum” was recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios between March 13-17; among the artists that contributed to the sessions were EMI artist Kate Royal, the Boys of King’s College Choir, Cambridge, the Boys of Magdalen College Choir, Oxford and the Academy Of St. Martin in the Fields, conducted by Gavin Greenway.