Track Listing

1. Ecce Cor Meum: I. Spiritus
2. Ecce Cor Meum: II. Gratia
3. Ecce Cor Meum: Interlude (Lament)
4. Ecce Cor Meum: III. Musica
5. Ecce Cor Meum: IV. Ecce Cor Meum

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #130124 in Music
• Released on: 2006-10-17
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Deluxe Edition, Limited Edition

Album Details
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.

Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

The Multitalented Paul McCartney's Celestial CD
This choral and classical instrumental gem is profoundly spiritual and captivating. The lyrics yearn with idealism, the choirs are celestial and the orchestra is equally uplifting and replete with pathos. The Interlude track is a melancholic marvel relating to the sad death of Linda McCartney. I was shocked to hear how much more advanced Paul McCartney has become in the realm of classical music. Ecce Cor Meum is vastly superior to Liverpool Oratorio and it surpasses the respectable Standing Stone. I am a rock music fan but I listened to Ecce Cor Meum four consectutive times last night. After the third play I was convinced that this CD's grandeur, pathos and spirituality combined to make it a masterpiece. The lyrics are sanctifying as they accentuate that our innate nature is laden with a universal love that we need to rediscover. McCartney's spirituality is profound. Paul is a Sir, a Beatle, a great vocalist, a dynamic bass player, a painter, a vegetarian, an animal rights activist and now he is a bona fide Classical composer.

Classical Music From a Class Act
After years traveling down his Long & Winding Road that led to this collection, it was well worth the wait. Paul McCartney has turned his travails into triumph; his challenges into championships.

Paul has proved to be a musical peer among many, including Tony Bennett with whom he does an excellent duet; those well established in choral work such as Walton, Bax and others of their caliber.

Never able to dodge that Beatle influence which has long become part of so many other songs and forms of music, Paul appears to embrace it. He plays Beatle songs at all of his concerts and even this vastly different collection retains just a hint of that old Beatle magic that made Paul a household name.

By that I mean that Paul remains true to his musical muse; his songs are identified by his warm, ballad-like style and soft sentimentality that softens the cynical edges of an otherwise jaded world. He breathes fresh life and animus into this music; it is this coupled with his own style that pull it off effectively.

One thing that struck me about this poignant collection is the strong spiritual aspect. Paul McCartney maintains an optimistic outlook while beseeching people to look to their goodness within.

This is a very serious collection. This is, I believe, Paul McCartney's core values and beliefs. It is this seeking, finding and reinforcing the goodness in ourselves and others that makes this so unique.

This is a collection that you will want to have. It is very soothing and some of the songs make me think of the Christmas Mass.

Paul McCartney is like his own 1967 classic - getting better all the time. This work is proof positive of that.

MELODIC ORCHESTRAL STUFF, but Paul still needs a lyricist
It's pretty, it's sincere, and in parts it's actually quite moving. But like Red Rose Speedway, Wings At The Speed of sound, or Driving Rain - - don't read the lyrics. It doesn't quite translate as an equivalent to the Brahms Requiem.
Lyrics run along the lines of

Where could we run to/Where would we hide
Where would we run to/Where would we hide
Where would we run to - hide?
Our love/our love
strengthen our love/strengthen our love
our love/our love.

Worse still -

We may find a trace / of this state of grace
In the saddest face
Something is there

How the rivers flow
We may never know
But it goes to show
Something is there

The man has always been a great melodist, but remember, he also gave us obladi - oblada - life goes on bra
as well as you say yes, I say no, you say stop, and I say go go go. Oh. You say goodbye and I say hello.

Still, it's his melodies that have caused me to line my record, and later CD, shelves with everything from McCartney, to all the live mujlti disc sets, right up to Chaos and Confusion.

If you can get past the text, you may still enjoy this. It's probably as close as we'll ever get to seeing into McCartney's soul. Which is substantial.