Paul McCartney: Ecce Cor Meum

Limited Deluxe Version packaged in 60 page hardback book with metallic foil embossing. The book includes notes, lyrics and extra photos. Originally commissioned by Magdalen College Oxford to commemorate the 550th anniversary of the foundation of the College in 1998, Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart) is an oratorio written for Magdalen College Choir by Sir Paul Mccartney. It is scored for choir and orchestra and there are four movements, each of which begins with unaccompanied voices and the text combines both English and Latin. This is McCartney's fourth album on the EMI Classics label - and it has been a labour of love with more than eight years in the making.

Paul McCartney's new "classical" oratorio is called Ecce Cor Meum, which translates as "Behold My Heart." The idealistic texts, also by McCartney, are meditations on goodness, spirituality, peace, and love, and are well served by the pretty, Romantic melodies; the long choral and orchestral sections flow one into the next. The Interlude (composed after the death of his wife, Linda), with its lovely oboe solo, is simple and moving. The music builds throughout to an emotional climax and the entrance of the organ later in the work--beautifully played and handsomely recorded--is quite remarkable. This is a far more advanced work than 1991's Liverpool Oratorio: better orchestrated, more through-composed. No, it's not the last word in compositional sophistication, but it has many beautiful moments, and McCartney's legions of fans will need to own it. --Robert Levine