UNITED KINGDOM: Sir Paul McCartney's fourth classical album entitled 'Ecce Cor Meum' premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in London

Sir Paul McCartney's new classical album entitled 'Ecce Cor Meum' premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Friday (November 3). 'Ecce Cor Meum', which is Latin for Behold My Heart, is McCartney's fourth classical album and is a work for chorus and orchestra in four movements. "It's gone very well so far, touch wood. We've rehearsed the orchestra all the way through for 'Ecce Cor Meum' and then we've had the soloists for the first half, string quartet. (It's) Gone very well, we've been tweaking lights and looking at light and effects and things and just talking - sorting out all the little bits, you know the conductor had a little bit of squeakiness underneath his foot. He didn't want that for the choir pits. So, you spend your last minutes doing that kind of thing you know. The orchestra's pretty well rehearsed now - and they're singing great, I'm very pleased, and you know so the orchestra is playing it great, the choir is singing it great - is all I need," said McCartney. The album was performed by the same cast on the studio recording - Kate Royal (soprano), Academy of St Martins In The Fields Orchestra, London Voices, Boys Of Magdalen College Choir from Oxford and Boys of King's College Choir from Cambridge. They were conducted by Gavin Greenway. The first version of 'Ecce Cor Meum' was performed in November 2001. It took over eight years for McCartney to finalise the album. "It's a bit nerve-wracking - cause you know, it's the first time I would have heard it in a hall like this. You know you hear it in rehearsal halls, and that's good. You hear it in the recording studio - but this is a real performance. This is the first real performance. And it is the Albert Hall after all - historical place. So it is a bit nerve-wracking but very exciting. Gonna be great. Gonna be even more nervous when the people come in - but at that point there's nothing I can do about it," he said. Fans gathered outside the Royal Albert Hall in support of the world premiere of 'Ecce cor Meum'. Fashion designer Stella McCartney, Paul McCartney's daughter, and singer KT Tunstall were also seen at the event.

ITN Source | November 9, 2006

Tags:. .kind. .far. .martins. .fashion. .bits