PR: Paul McCartney "Ecce Cor Meum"
cinemediapromo
the official press release about "Ecce Cor Meum". I am promoting the
recording in the United States. Please feel free to contact me at the
email address below if you have any questions that I may be able to
answer.
Also, please note the 26th was the release date for the standard
version in the U.S. There is a deluxe version which will come out on
10/17 in the U.S.
Paul McCartney To Release New Classical Work 'Ecce Cor Meum'
Release Date: 26th September 2006
Paul McCartney releases his new full-length work of classical music
Ecce Cor Meum through EMI Classics on 26th September 2006. Ecce Cor
Meum (Behold My Heart) is Paul's fourth classical album since his
first released in 1991, The Liverpool Oratorio.
Ecce Cor Meum has been more than eight years in the making and its
origins follow in the historic tradition of composers that have been
commissioned to write music for the world-renowned Magdalen College
Oxford. Paul was specially invited by Anthony Smith (President of
Magdalen College 1998 - 2005) to compose something to set the seal on
a new concert hall for the college. His hope was for 'a choral piece
which could be sung by young people the world over in the same way that
Handel's Messiah is'.
Ecce Cor Meum, an Oratorio in four movements, is scored for choir and
orchestra. The text combines both English and to a lesser degree,
Latin. Paul's knowledge of Latin comes from his classical education
at The Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, where he had learnt
three languages by the time he was 12. Paul says: "Not all of this
has been retained over the years as my path went in other directions,
but my love of language remains, and as Latin is known and sung by
choirs all over the world, I felt it would be appropriate to use at
times during the piece."
Like many great composers Paul, started with the music and then looked
for a subject that fits. Several ideas for lyrics occurred to him, but
they only gelled when he took part in a concert of John Tavener's
music in the Church of St Ignatius Loyola in New York. "While I was
waiting to do my bit, I was looking around the church and I saw a
statue, and underneath it was written 'Ecce Cor Meum'. I had done
some Latin at school and I always had a fondness for it. So I worked
it out. I believe it means Behold My Heart".
In November 2001, the first version of Ecce Cor Meum was given its
first preview performance by the Magdalen College Choir, which was
conducted by Bill Ives at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford. This was a
great learning experience for Paul. "Eventually I made it all come
together through correcting a lot of misapprehensions - a lot was
learned before the Sheldonian performance, but a lot of it was learned
afterwards. An experienced choral composer knows that children can't
be given huge sustained passages; they don't have the energy and the
stamina. At the Sheldonian there was some quite hard stuff that I
didn't realise because I'd done it on the synthesiser (which has
endless stamina!), but during that first performance, the solo treble
couldn't come on for the second half - I think I'd used him up in
the first half! These are things that people either learn because they
are taught them immediately at the first lesson or you learn through
the years, so it was good to go through the piece a lot of times, and
we took out huge choral sections and gave them to the orchestra. If it
had been a Beatles song I would have known how to do it. But this was
a completely different ball game."
Produced by John Fraser, Ecce Cor Meum was recorded this year at the
legendary Abbey Road Studios between March 13th and 17th. It was
performed by EMI artist Kate Royal (soprano); 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.
Contact: cinemed...@yahoo.com