Kathleen Ferrier (1912-1953)

[Maciek]

Here's a shrine dedicated to another great contralto, Kathleen Mary Ferrier (22 April 1912 – 8 October 1953).

Let me quote Mike:

an unmistakable voice. The opening of the first Kindertotenlieder is like listening to a stained glass window. The voice sounds so immediate as though fresh and happening now, rather than almost 60 years ago.

[dtwilbanks]

It's true! No one posts in this forum.

Their loss. 



Ferrier

[PerfectWagnerite]

I got a good laugh out of this article:

http://www.classicstoday.com/features/f1_0903.asp

[dtwilbanks]

I got a good laugh out of this article:

http://www.classicstoday.com/features/f1_0903.asp

I'll have to read that in detail later. After glancing at it, it appears the hurwitzer is on full blast.

[PerfectWagnerite]

These few lines send me ROTFL:

Of all the strange compliments Cullingford cites, none quite matches that of Ferrier's voice teacher, Roy Henderson, who rather amazingly notes in his book Kathleen Ferrier: A Memoir (Hamish Hamilton:1954), that "Kathleen Ferrier was born with a wonderful cavity at the back of the throat. One could have shot a fair-sized apple right to the back of her throat without obstruction." What was she, a singer or a fruit basket?

[dtwilbanks]

These few lines send me ROTFL:

Of all the strange compliments Cullingford cites, none quite matches that of Ferrier's voice teacher, Roy Henderson, who rather amazingly notes in his book Kathleen Ferrier: A Memoir (Hamish Hamilton:1954), that "Kathleen Ferrier was born with a wonderful cavity at the back of the throat. One could have shot a fair-sized apple right to the back of her throat without obstruction." What was she, a singer or a fruit basket?

Ha! Well, I like her album of British folk songs. That's all I own.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Or check out this review:

http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=2448

[dtwilbanks]

Or check out this review:

http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=2448

Well, yeah. Hurwitz knows what he doesn't like. 

[PerfectWagnerite]

Well, yeah. Hurwitz knows what he doesn't like. 

SHe's not my favorite singer but definitely not NEARLY as bad as Hurwitz make it out to be.

[Maciek]

Ferrier

Thanks for the link. The site has a discography and, if you scroll almost all the way to the bottom, you get to download Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer (Brahms / Broadcast Edinburgh 1949 / Bruno Walter, live)!

I have 4 Ferrier CDs. An amazing disc from the RoC series:

This one is really wonderful. Come to think of it, I should have mentioned it on the "disc everyone should own" thread...

The Karajan recording of Bach's B Minor Mass:

(mine has a different cover but I think it's the same thing)

And a 2 CD set of selections from the Decca 10-disc set:

This makes me absolutely covet that 10-disc set but somehow I never have the funds. Still, it's very high on my list and I'm definitely getting it within the next 6 months or so...

Maciek

[dtwilbanks]

And a 2 CD set of selections from the Decca 10-disc set. This makes me absolutely covet that 10-disc set but somehow I never have the funds. Still, it's very high on my list and I'm definitely getting it within the next 6 months or so...

Maciek

I have volume 8, Maciek.

[zamyrabyrd]

The tragedy of Kathleen Ferrier was that her career was truncated just about when she was reaching her prime. The age of 41 for a contralto would not be considered old at all these days. Thanks to Bruno Walter she was developing exponentially in interpretation and finally getting control of her voice. Surely the sympathy of the public coloured their opinions and of critics as well. I found her early work very uneven. It seemed like she didn't simply know what to do with her lower range. Once she sank her teeth into those rich tones, luxuriating in them, things fell into place. Dame Clara Butt (1872-1936) was an eminent predecessor who sang similar repertoire, like English folk songs, Orfeo and Oratorio.

ZB

[Tsaraslondon]

The tragedy of Kathleen Ferrier was that her career was truncated just about when she was reaching her prime. The age of 41 for a contralto would not be considered old at all these days. Thanks to Bruno Walter she was developing exponentially in interpretation and finally getting control of her voice. Surely the sympathy of the public coloured their opinions and of critics as well. I found her early work very uneven. It seemed like she didn't simply know what to do with her lower range. Once she sank her teeth into those rich tones, luxuriating in them, things fell into place. Dame Clara Butt (1872-1936) was an eminent predecessor who sang similar repertoire, like English folk songs, Orfeo and Oratorio.

ZB

You make a very good point. At 41, Ferrier was indeed very young when she died, and still developing as an artist. Most of her best work is from her final years, when she worked with such luminaries as Bruno Walter and Benjamin Britten.
What she always displayed was an honesty and generosity of spirit, which comes out in all she sings, whether it be an inconsequential folk song or a Mahler Lied. Others may have brought more subtlety to Schubert's An die Musik, for instance, but few make you aware, as she does,  just how grateful they are for this gift. Her singing is without artifice, and I find it a refreshing experience. Odd, I suppose, that I should also enjoy the art of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, whose method and manner are the very antithesis of Ferrier's.

[Tsaraslondon]

Well, yeah. Hurwitz knows what he doesn't like. 

The British, judging from his writing. I wonder what we did to him.

[head-case]

You make a very good point. At 41, Ferrier was indeed very young when she died, and still developing as an artist. Most of her best work is from her final years, when she worked with such luminaries as Bruno Walter and Benjamin Britten.
What she always displayed was an honesty and generosity of spirit, which comes out in all she sings, whether it be an inconsequential folk song or a Mahler Lied. Others may have brought more subtlety to Schubert's An die Musik, for instance, but few make you aware, as she does,  just how grateful they are for this gift. Her singing is without artifice, and I find it a refreshing experience. Odd, I suppose, that I should also enjoy the art of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, whose method and manner are the very antithesis of Ferrier's.

It's hard for me to imagine how"honesty" or  "generocity of spirit" would come across in a singing voice.  I had one of her recordings of Mahler once, never felt the need to have another of her recordings. 

[Tsaraslondon]

It's hard for me to imagine how"honesty" or  "generocity of spirit" would come across in a singing voice.  I had one of her recordings of Mahler once, never felt the need to have another of her recordings. 

Well, I did give her singing of Schubert's An die Musik as an example, ditto her numerous recordings of British Folk Songs.

[Susan de Visne]

I don't know how many who are commenting actually saw Kathleen Ferrier. I didn't, but I've known many people who did, and they all seem to agree that there was something really special about her. Most of the musicians who worked with her, including Britten, were enchanted by her, as was my own mother. I once asked someone who had seen both her and Janet Baker how she would compare them. She said there was no comparison - and that was in favour of Ferrier. I don't think singers should ever be judged by recordings alone - there's much more to a performance than that. Unfortunately these days a lot of people think that recording is the main thing.

[knight66]

My own mother-in-law exactly echos what Susan says in the preceding post. What perhaps does Ferrier some damage is the preservation of some tenth rate music with is often poorly accompanied. She also was recorded with The Boyd Neil Orchestra and frankly, those recordings are sluggish, such as Pergolesi Stabat Mater ought to be junked, it gives little pleasure.

Conductors such as Walter, Karajan and Barbirolli were not the sort to promote sub standard talent. At her best she is all the good things that are said of her, especially in those final years.

As to how honesty comes through....difficult to convey, but there was a completely straight forward communication, powerful and with insight. I simply have never heard Bach as well or affectingly sung as on the extra tracks of the B Minor conducted by Karajan. (Maciek's choice.)

She could lighten things up and far from what Hurwitz indicates, there are plenty of folk songs that show a lively approach and humour.

Mike

[PerfectWagnerite]

It seems to me that the British adore Ferrier much more than Baker, despite the fact that vocally speaking there is clearly no contest. For some reason certain artists can do no wrong in the minds of the British, i.e., Horenstein, Barbirolli, and of course Ferrier. Janet Baker has demonstrated almost in every single recordings that she has made that she is a mezzo of the first rank but somehow has not gotten nearly the attention that Ferrier has received.

[beclemund]

I don't think singers should ever be judged by recordings alone - there's much more to a performance than that. Unfortunately these days a lot of people think that recording is the main thing.

The truth is, many never have the chance to be exposed to a performer in any other way than a recording. No matter how many times I visit the local symphony and opera house, I will likely never see the marquee performers that appear at the MET, Royal Opera House, La Scala, Glyndebourne, etc... So often our only reference is through a recorded medium.