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Berkeley L, Four Poems of St Teresa of Avila, with J Barbirolli & HO 1949 (Pearl GEM 0229) Brahms, Schubert, Schumann Lieder and two Christmas Carols, with P Spurr, J Newmark, & On 23 May 1953 a local newspaper, the West Somerset Free Press, apologised to its readers for having, in an earlier report, suggested that Ferrier's career was over. "We are now informed that although Miss Ferrier has been ill her incapacity is purely temporary and will in no way affect her return to professional activity." [109] The marriage, however, was a disaster and annulled - yet she was indebted to her husband for at least one gesture. In 1937 the Carlisle Festival took place and Kathleen had entered as a pianist. He bet her a shilling she would not also enter as a singer (she has previously sung in public at a few minor, unpaid functions), and she took him up. She sang Roger Quilter’s To Daisies and won both categories. The Carlisle Journal recorded that she had ‘one of the finest voices’ they had heard. Perhaps the greatest of the Ferrier-Walter-Mahler projects was the 1952 recording in Vienna of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth). When Mahler wrote the work's final movement, "Der Abschied" (The Farewell), he showed it to Walter, who said, "I was profoundly moved by that uniquely passionate, bitter, yet resigned and benedictory sound of farewell and departure, that last confession of one upon whom rested the finger of death." Mahler, only in his 40s, had been recently diagnosed with a heart condition that would eventually lead to his early death. A collection of some of Kathleen Ferrier’s repertoire from British composers. The earliest recording from1947, is of Benjamin Britten’s ‘The Flower Song’ from The Rape of Lucretia, the latest, from 1953 (both BBC recitals) includes Howard Ferguson’s lovely five part Discovery, three songs by William Wordsworth and Edmund Rubbra’s Three Psalms, specially written for Ferrier.
The occasion was a significant one for the singer, as Ferrier authority Paul Campion notes in his extensive, detailed and informative booklet notes: Paul Campion, author of the authoritative Ferrier: A Career Recorded provides specially commissioned booklet notes. Kathleen Ferrier fund led way for cancer study". Lancashire Telegraph. 20 April 2012 . Retrieved 18 May 2016. Kathleen Ferrier – A Memoir, ed. Neville CardusKathleen Ferrier – A Memoir, ed. Neville Cardus, Hamish Hamilton (1954) – A collection of six beautifully written tributes to Ferrier by some of her closest friends and colleagues: Sir John Barbirolli, Benjamin Britten, Neville Cardus, Roy Henderson, Gerald Moore and Bruno Walter. Extensively illustrated.Bach, Magnificat, with V Andreae, I Seefried, F Riegler, H Meyer-Welfing, O Edelmann, VPO and Chorus 1950 Fine as all these recordings are, made using the most advanced technology available at the time, it is perhaps in Kathleen’s surviving radio broadcasts that most interest lies. From BBC broadcasts came the first radio performance of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia in 1946; a celebrated Lieder recital from the 1949 Edinburgh Festival, with Bruno Walter at the piano; four recordings conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, including another Das Lied von der Erde and Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer, and Brahms’s Liebeslieder Walzer from the 1952 Edinburgh Festival. The recording of the unaccompanied Northumbrian folk song " Blow the Wind Southerly", initially made by Decca in 1949, has been reissued many times and frequently played on radio in shows such as Desert Island Discs, Housewives' Choice and Your Hundred Best Tunes. [126] [127] Another signature aria, first recorded in 1944 and on numerous subsequent occasions, is "What is Life?" ( Che farò) from Orfeo ed Euridice. [126] These records sold in large numbers rivalling those of other stars of the time, such as Frank Sinatra and Dame Vera Lynn. In the 21st century, Ferrier's recordings still sell hundreds of thousands of copies each year. [128] [129] Notes and references [ edit ]
Kathleen’s first recordings were made for EMI at Abbey Road Studios in north London in June 1944; these were simply test records, not intended for public sale, and it was almost 35 years before they were first issued. Three more recording sessions for EMI followed and included music by Handel, Greene, Purcell and Mendelssohn; by February 1946 she had changed her allegiance to Decca Records, not having enjoyed a good rapport with Walter Legge, in charge of her earlier sessions. Her only other recording for EMI – Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder– was made in October 1949 with special permission granted by Decca.Elizabeth II had succeeded to the throne on the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952. Ferrier's diary entry for 6 February reads "The King died", and notes the postponement of a broadcast she was due to make that day. [81] Part of the individual timbre of the Kathleen Ferrier voice is due to the fact that it is a natural sound with no conservatory training. Both Hutchinson and Henderson conceded that that the voice was already there when she came to them and that they merely refined and coached the instrument.