McCartney hopes fans will sing along - in Latin

NEW YORK, Aug 1 (Reuters) Former Beatle Paul McCartney is hoping classical music fans will sing along to his latest album -- in Latin.

A new full-length work of classical music by McCartney, ''Ecce Cor Meum'' (Behold My Heart), will be released on September. 26 after eight years of work.

This is McCartney's fourth classical album. His first, ''Liverpool Oratorio,'' was released in 1991.

McCartney said his hope was for ''a choral piece, which could be sung by young people the world over in the same way that Handel's 'Messiah' is.'' ''Ecce Cor Meum,'' an oratorio in four movements, is scored for choir and orchestra with the text combining both English and Latin, which McCartney studied at The Liverpool Institute High School for Boys.

''As Latin is known and sung by choirs all over the world, I felt it would be appropriate to use at times during the piece,' ' he said in a statement yesterday.

''Ecce Cor Meum'' was commissioned by Britain's Magdalen College, Oxford in honor of the college's new concert hall.

Produced by John Fraser, ''Ecce Cor Meum'' is performed by soprano Kate Royal, The Boys of King's College Choir, Cambridge, The Boys Of Magdalen College Choir, Oxford and The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

REUTERS MQA PM0918