Paul's Classical Works: From Liverpool Oratorio to Ocean's Kingdom

A Rock Musician Who Does Not Read Music

Paul McCartney has released five major classical albums: Liverpool Oratorio, premiered at Liverpool Cathedral on 28 June 1991; the symphonic poem Standing Stone, premiered at the Royal Albert Hall on 14 October 1997; Working Classical (1999); the choral work Ecce Cor Meum (2006), which won the album award at the 2007 Classical BRIT Awards; and the ballet score Ocean's Kingdom, premiered by New York City Ballet on 22 September 2011.

What makes these works unusual is that Paul does not read or write music in the conventional way. He composes by ear, at the piano or guitar, and on tape, and then works with trained collaborators who help turn his ideas into full orchestral scores. Critics have sometimes held that against him, but the division of labour is not new to his career: George Martin wrote out the string parts for 'Yesterday' and 'Eleanor Rigby' from Paul's ideas, and the melodies in the classical works are his in the same way.

The classical projects also have a long back story. As early as 1966 Paul wrote the score for the film The Family Way, arranged by George Martin, and the orchestral ambitions of Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road point the same way. The five works below are where that interest finally took centre stage.

Liverpool Oratorio (1991)

Liverpool Oratorio was commissioned to mark the 150th anniversary of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and Paul wrote it with the composer and conductor Carl Davis, with whom he began working in 1988. It premiered at Liverpool Cathedral on 28 June 1991, performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir with the Liverpool Cathedral choristers, conducted by Davis. The soloists were Kiri Te Kanawa, Jerry Hadley, Sally Burgess and Willard White.

The work is in eight movements, titled War, School, Crypt, Father, Wedding, Work, Crises and Peace, and follows a character named Shanty from his birth in wartime Liverpool through school, love, marriage and family, closely echoing Paul's own life. The album, recorded at the premiere performances on 28 and 29 June, was released by EMI Classics on 7 October 1991 in the UK and 22 October in the US. It topped the classical charts and even reached No.177 on the Billboard 200.

Our view: it is warm, sincere and full of good tunes, but it is also long and sometimes stiff, as if Paul was being careful to prove he could do this. It is the most personal of the classical works, and a good starting point if you know his songs well and want to hear how he handles a large-scale story.

Standing Stone (1997)

Standing Stone was commissioned by EMI Classics to celebrate EMI's centenary. It is a symphonic poem in four movements for orchestra and choir, inspired by a long poem Paul wrote about the arrival of early people on the British Isles. The world premiere was at the Royal Albert Hall on 14 October 1997, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra with a large choir, conducted by Lawrence Foster.

The album was released on 29 September 1997, about two weeks before the premiere, and topped the classical charts. It spent a week at No.194 on the US Billboard 200. Paul developed the music over several years on computer and at the piano, working with orchestrators to realise the full score.

Our view: this is the most ambitious of the five and, in places, the most impressive. The writing is broader and more atmospheric than the Oratorio, and the final movement builds to a strong choral climax. It was also the last major classical work Paul released while Linda was alive; she died in April 1998, and everything that followed on this list is coloured by that loss.

Working Classical (1999) and Ecce Cor Meum (2006)

Working Classical, released on 1 November 1999, is the most approachable of the classical albums. The London Symphony Orchestra and the Loma Mar Quartet play new pieces, 'A Leaf', 'Spiral', 'Tuesday', 'Haymakers' and 'Midwife', alongside arrangements of McCartney songs including 'Junk', 'My Love', 'Maybe I'm Amazed', 'Calico Skies' and 'The Lovely Linda', with orchestrations by Richard Rodney Bennett, Jonathan Tunick and Andy Stein. 'A Leaf' had first appeared as a solo piano piece on a CD single in April 1995. It was released the year after Linda's death, and many of the chosen songs were written for or about her.

A smaller piece from the same period deserves a mention. A Garland for Linda, released by EMI Classics on 25 April 2000, is a collection of new choral works written in Linda's memory by contemporary British composers including John Tavener and John Rutter, modelled on the 1953 album A Garland for the Queen. Paul's own contribution, 'Nova', is performed with the rest of the album by the Joyful Company of Singers under Peter Broadbent. The album supported the Garland Appeal, a cancer charity set up after Linda's death. It is short, but it is some of the most personal music he has written for voices, and it leads directly to Ecce Cor Meum.

Ecce Cor Meum, meaning Behold My Heart, began as a commission from Anthony Smith, then president of Magdalen College, Oxford, for a piece to open the college's new concert hall. The work took more than eight years to complete, delayed in part by Linda's illness and death. An early version was performed at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, in November 2001 by the Choir of Magdalen College under Bill Ives, and the finished oratorio was recorded at Abbey Road in March 2006 with soprano Kate Royal, the choirs of Magdalen College, Oxford and King's College, Cambridge, London Voices and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by Gavin Greenaway. The album came out on 25 September 2006.

The finished work is in four movements, 'Spiritus', 'Gratia', 'Musica' and 'Ecce Cor Meum', with an orchestral 'Interlude (Lament)' between the second and third written as an elegy for Linda. On 3 May 2007 it won the album award at the Classical BRIT Awards, voted for by Classic FM listeners. Our view: it is the best of Paul's classical works, focused, beautifully written for voices and full of feeling. If you only buy one, make it this one.

Ocean's Kingdom (2011)

Ocean's Kingdom was Paul's first ballet score, written for New York City Ballet and choreographed by the company's ballet master in chief, Peter Martins. It premiered on 22 September 2011 at the company's fall gala at the David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, with the New York City Ballet Orchestra conducted by Fayçal Karoui. Stella McCartney designed the costumes, her first work for the stage. The story is a love story set between two worlds, a kingdom under the sea and a kingdom on land, with conflict between them.

The score is in four movements, 'Ocean's Kingdom', 'Hall of Dance', 'Imprisonment' and 'Moonrise', running about 56 minutes. A studio recording conducted by John Wilson was released on CD and vinyl on 3 October 2011 in the UK and 4 October in the US, and reached No.144 on the US Billboard 200.

Our view: it is colourful and melodic, written to be danced to, and it works better with the ballet than as a standalone album. Reviews of the premiere were mixed. But it showed Paul, then 69, still taking on a form he had never attempted before.

Our Ranking and Where to Start

Here is our ranking, best first: Ecce Cor Meum, Standing Stone, Working Classical, Liverpool Oratorio, Ocean's Kingdom. Ecce Cor Meum is the most complete and moving work, Standing Stone the most ambitious, and Working Classical the easiest way in for song fans. The Oratorio matters most historically, and Ocean's Kingdom is best experienced on stage. Plenty of fans would put the Oratorio first for its Liverpool story alone.

A practical listening plan: start with the string quartet arrangements on Working Classical, then Ecce Cor Meum in one sitting, then Standing Stone, and save the Oratorio for when you can follow the story movement by movement. All five came out on CD, and the originals turn up cheaply second-hand. Our guide to the best McCartney vinyl pressings covers which editions of his wider catalogue are worth owning on record, and our ranking of every McCartney solo album covers the song albums these works sit between.