Paul McCartney: Ecce Cor Meum

Are we listening to the same piece of music?

How can I be listening to the same piece of music that another reviewer here finds "vapid" and "uneventful"? That is the question I ask myself, and the only answer I've been able to think of is, perhaps, that the other reviewer is looking for Hamlet set to music. Five acts of increasing tension released by a bloodbath in the fifth act. That would certainly be a fun and perhaps worthwhile musical project, but Hamlet's agony has little to do with what McCartney is trying to do in this oratorio. McCartney's trying to live, not die.

This work, as anyone who considers the lyrics, much less the music, will recognize, is a set of meditations on matters spiritual, material, personal, and musical. It is a highly confessional and personal look at the heart and mind that make Paul McCartney tick. The lyrics consider the questions of how to find light and spirit and love in your life. The answer is that you pray, and praying loudly and demandingly is okay with McCartney. There is spirit in the world, and you can connect with it. If your connection is sound, it will bring you all the treasures of life and love and successful communication of your heart. Ecce Cor Meum is full of climaxes, and excitement, and tempo and mood changes. There are contrapuntal passages liberally strewed throughout the work, and there are gorgeous instrumental colors, and lonely voices plaintively singing their way out of gloom and darkness and despair into light and joy and forward motion. It does not have architectural structure, but it is in constant spiritual and musical motion.

"Let the good that surrounds us help us to always care." "Take love away and we are ruined." Lead us "into the light of your sweet song." "There in the future we may be apart. Here in my music I show you my heart."

The piece is undoubtedly colored by the death of Linda McCartney in the middle of its composition, and what McCartney learned of finding the light again, and how to react to making mistakes while looking for the light. The personal credo expressed in this composition has been tested by the worst that could happen to this particular composer, and he uses his own dark night of the soul to strengthen his personal philosophy of love, light, music, and positive action.

What it is not is uneventful and vapid, unless you think that love doesn't exist, that there is no such thing as spirit, and that music is primarily for entertainment. Music can save your soul, McCartney sings, and his soloist and choirs sing convincingly. The music reaches, and surges, and batters down the gates of heaven on earth.

I can easily understand those who have reported that they listen to the piece over and over again. It's heartening, it's exciting, it's seriously melodic and wildly expressive. Ecce Cor Meum is just one man's testimony to what's important in life, but the man in question is one of the most talented and inventive musicians around. August 3, 2008

Paul and Ecce Cor Meum

This is by far Paul's very best classical work to date. A loving tribute to Linda McCartney and their lives together. A must for any Macca Collector! May 8, 2008

Kate Royal - what a voice!

Paul's a songwriter and not really a composer, so the critics here are at least partially right, but let's not be too critical. This music has genuine beauty. All four movements and the "Interlude" contain some very appealing writing and there's a real bang-up finish to it.

The second movement, "Gratia", in particular, has one of the more tenderly arresting melodies of Paul's career. I like it every bit as much as "Long and Winding Road" and "Here, There and Everywhere". And, Kate Royal has a voice to melt you - sweet, clear, youthful and very different from Kiri Te Kanawa who did the Liverpool Oratorio. Paul loves this kind of voice - I can't help but recall Mary Hopkin's "Those Were the Days" and "Goodbye".

The orchestra and chorus do an outstanding job, too. As was the case with McCartney's other classical projects, it seems that the opportunity to perform the former Beatle's music inspires the whole cast and crew. There's a lot of love here and it's worth checking out. May 3, 2008

Reviewing the reviewers

I haven't purchased this CD yet and was just reading the reviews and wanted to comment on them. When I buy a piece of music, or a book, or a movie DVD, I'm not in the least interested in the education of the creator. McCartney may not have a PhD, but he has immense and gorgeous raw talent. That's all he needs, and a darn site more than most graduates of musical academies. December 20, 2007

Paul McCartney: Ecce Cor Meum

Paul is a natural. I love his music. This Classical piece is I think his best, it brought tears to my eyes. October 26, 2007

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