''Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio'' is a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

and

Carl Davis Carl Davis, (born October 28, 1936) is an American-born conductor and composer who has lived in the United Kingdom since 1961. He has written music for more than 100 television programmes, but is best known for creating music to accompany si ...

, released in 1991. It is McCartney's first major foray into classical music. Composed in collaboration with

to commemorate the

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmon ...

's 150th anniversary, the project received media attention upon its unveiling in June 1991.

Recording

This recording was captured at the

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

dress rehearsal A rehearsal is an activity in the performing arts that occurs as preparation for a performance in music, theatre, dance and related arts, such as opera, musical theatre and film production. It is undertaken as a form of practising, to ens ...

and premiere at

Liverpool Cathedral Liverpool Cathedral is the Cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Liverpool, built on St James's Mount in Liverpool, and the seat of the Bishop of Liverpool. It may be referred to as the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool (as recorded in the ...

with McCartney in attendance and features noted professional classical singers

Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa , (; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a retired New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Te ...

Jerry Hadley Jerry Hadley (June 16, 1952 – July 18, 2007) was an American operatic tenor. He received three Grammy awards for his vocal performances in the recordings of ''Jenůfa'' (2004 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording), ''Susannah'' (1995 Grammy Awar ...

Sally Burgess Sally Burgess FRCM (born 9 October 1953) is a South African-born British operatic lyric mezzo-soprano, opera director, and educator. She has been a Fellow and Professor of Vocal Studies at the Royal College of Music since 2004, as well as teachi ...

and

Willard White Sir Willard Wentworth White, OM, CBE (born 10 October 1946) is a Jamaican-born British operatic bass baritone. Early life White was born into a Jamaican family in Kingston. His father was a dockworker, his mother a housewife. White first beg ...

re-enacting the roles in the oratorio. The recording was engineered by John Timperley.

Music and story

Consisting of eight movements, the story of the oratorio loosely follows McCartney's own lifeline, with the main character, Shanty, who is born in 1942 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, raised to believe that "being born where you are born carries with it certain responsibilities". After his school days where he often "sagged off" (Liverpool

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...

for skipping class), Shanty begins working and meets his future bride, Mary Dee. Following the death of his father, Shanty and Mary Dee are married and are forced to deal with the rigours of balancing a happy marriage and their careers. Amid a quarrel, Mary Dee reveals that she is pregnant and after surviving a nearly fatal accident, gives birth to their son. Thus, the cycle of life in Liverpool carries on.

Reception

The commercial reaction for the work was strong, with the oratorio spending many weeks atop the classical charts worldwide, and even charting at number 177 in regular album chart in the US. Critical reaction was less positive, the virtually unanimous verdict being that the work, while attractive, was simplistic, overlong and, given its aspirations, insubstantial.''Gramophone'' review of recording
/ref>

Track listing

All pieces by

and

. The first four movements are on CD disc one, the second four on disc two.

Disc one

;Side one – War #Andante (Orchestra) – 2:02 #'Non Nobis Solum' – 2:35 #'The Air Raid Siren Slices Through...' (Shanty) – 2:09 #'Oh Will It All End Here?' (Shanty) – 1:36 #'Mother and Father Holding Their Child' – 1:16 ;School #

'We're Here in School Today to Get a Perfect Education' – 2:10 #'Walk in Single File Out of the Classroom' (Headmaster) – 1:02 #'Settle Down' – 0:40 #'Kept in Confusion' (Shanty) – 2:35 #'I'll Always Be Here' (Mary Dee) – 1:35 #'Boys, This Is Your Teacher' (Headmaster, Miss Inkley) – 1:23 #'Tres Conejos' (Miss Inkley, Headmaster, Shanty) – 1:50 #'Not for Ourselves' (Headmaster, Miss Inkley, Shanty) – 0:55 ;Side two – Crypt #

'And So It Was That I Had Grown' (Shanty) – 0:48 #Dance – 1:44 #'I Used to Come Here When This Place Was a Crypt' (Shanty, Preacher) – 1:58 #'Here Now' (Shanty) – 0:46 #'I'll Always Be Here' (Mary Dee, Shanty) – 2:24 #'Now's the Time to Tell Him' (Mary Dee, Shanty) – 2:21 ;Father #

Andante Lamentoso – 2:59 #'O Father, You Have Given...' (Chief Mourner) – 1:05 #'(Ah)' – 1:13 #'Hey, Wait a Minute' (Shanty) – 1:44 #'Father, Father, Father' (Shanty, Chief Mourner) – 4:12

Disc two

;Side three – Wedding #Andante Amoroso – 'I Know I Should Be Glad of This' (Shanty, Mary Dee) – 5:42 #'Father, Hear Our Humble Voices' (Preacher) – 1:13 #'Hosanna, Hosanna' (Mary Dee, Shanty) – 1:40 ;Work #

Allegro Energico – 1:20 #'Working Women at the Top' (Mary Dee) – 2:52 #Violin Solo – 5:05 #'Did I Sign the Letter...' (Mary Dee) – 1:34 #Tempo I – 0:30 #'When You Ask a Working Man' (Shanty, Mr. Dingle) – 1:34 #'Let's Find Ourselves a Little Hostelry' (Mr. Dingle) – 2:04 ;Side four – Crises #

Allegro Molto – 0:54 #'The World You're Coming Into' (Mary Dee) – 2:28 #Tempo I – 0:45 #'Where's My Dinner?' (Shanty, Mary Dee) – 2:40 #'Let's Not Argue' (Shanty, Mary Dee) – 0:31 #'I'm Not a Slave' (Mary Dee, Shanty) – 0:52 #'Right! That's It!' (Mary Dee) – 0:49 #'Stop. Wait.' – 2:03 #'Do You Know Who You Are...' (Nurse) – 3:36 #'Ghosts of the Past Left Behind' (Nurse, Shanty, Mary Dee) – 3:08 #'Do We Live in a World...' (Mary Dee, Nurse, Shanty) – 3:18 ;Peace #

'And So It Was That You Were Born' (Shanty) – 1:22 #'God Is Good' – 1:26 #'What People Want Is a Family Life' (Preacher) – 2:17 #'Dad's in the Garden' (Nurse, Mary Dee, Preacher, Shanty) – 3:13 #'So on and on the Story Goes' (Mary Dee, Shanty) – 1:06

Personnel

– orchestra *Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir –

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

*Liverpool Cathedral Choiristers – chorus *

– conductor *

Ian Tracey Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

– conductor *

–

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

: Mary Dee *

–

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

: Shanty *

–

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...

: Miss Inkley, Chief Mourner, Nurse *

– bass : Headmaster, Preacher, Mr Dingle *Jeremy Budd – treble : Boy Soloist

References

{{Authority control Oratorios 1991 live albums 1991 classical albums Paul McCartney albums Collaborations in classical music