‘Standing’ Shows Mccartney’s Growing Confidence In Classical

Paul McCartney “Paul McCartney’s Standing Stone” (EMI Classics)

Following his first foray into classical music, 1991’s critically knocked but high-profile “Liverpool Oratorio” (sorry, “Eleanor Rigby” doesn’t count), McCartney adds another classical album to his vast pop catalog with “Standing Stone,” a dramatic four-movement piece he wrote after composing a poem about Celtic man and the mysteries of human existence (its somewhat labored prose is reproduced in a lavish booklet featuring photos from wife Linda).

“Standing Stone” is more immediately accessible than the often lulling “Liverpool Oratorio,” which relied on four solo singers and quiet passages. “Standing Stone” calls on the London Symphony Orchestra to add orchestral and choral flourishes to propel the “story,” and though some of the accents here recall the soundtrack to a “Star Trek” movie (tweaking brass, zooming flutes, swelling crescendos), McCartney’s confidence in the medium is more evident now.