Ranked: Paul McCartney's classical works - number 1 is essential (but you can skip number 5)
When Paul McCartney ventured into classical music in the early 1990s, it raised more than a few eyebrows.
A global pop icon and one of the most successful songwriters of all time, McCartney was synonymous with melodic brilliance—but not necessarily with symphonic form, operatic structure, or choral grandeur. Yet, rather than treat classical music as a vanity project, McCartney approached it with humility, curiosity, and a genuine desire to grow as a composer.
Unlike some of his rock peers, who dabbled in orchestral textures for dramatic flair, McCartney dove headfirst into the language of classical music. He studied scores, worked alongside seasoned composers and conductors, and embraced the rigours of writing extended works without the familiar support of verse-chorus structure or a rhythm section. The result has been a series of ambitious, heartfelt, and occasionally uneven works that offer a fascinating window into his evolving creative world.
These compositions, spanning oratorios, orchestral poems, and ballet scores, reflect McCartney’s lifelong love of melody, his openness to collaboration, and his instinct for emotional storytelling. They also reveal the challenges of crossing genres: critical reception has ranged from respectful admiration to polite dismissal. But whether deeply personal (Ecce Cor Meum), narrative-driven (Liverpool Oratorio), or abstract and meditative (Standing Stone), McCartney’s classical pieces show an artist unafraid to explore new terrain—even decades into an already legendary career.
Source: classical-music.com/Steve Wright
