The Very Best Of Kathleen Ferrier

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Her career took off following an introduction to Sir Malcolm Sargent, with whom she would later work on a regular basis; early successes included Handel’s Messiah at Westminster Abbey and The Angel in Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius in Leeds, and by the mid-1940s she was signed to Decca Records.

These recorded performances are immensely valuable, as they allow us, so many years later, to hear several songs that Ferrier never set down commercially – including Brahms’ Nachtigall – as well as others that can be now compared with their commercially-made counterparts. Reviews: “[This] is an important addition to Ferrier’s discography, and she is indeed marvellous in it, singing ‘Esurientes implevit bonis’ with that unique, indescribable tone and expressive sincerity that characterises her finest work. Kathleen Ferrier with the tenor Peter Pears at the Edinburgh festival, was an English contralto known for her exceptionally low, rich voice and her surprising death at 41. It’s in excellent sound… This is an important addition to Ferrier’s legacy on disc… This disc is warmly commended for sourcing and restoring the Magnificat, which will be of interest to all Ferrier enthusiasts and also, incidentally, to those for whom appreciation of Andreae as a conductor has hitherto been limited to Bruckner.

Perelsztejn’s film Walter describes the first time he heard Ferrier: “She came and sang Brahms for me, and I engaged her.

Products labelled '*item fulfilled by Exertis on behalf of hmv' will be supplied to you directly by Exertis via their approved couriers.Kathleen Ferrier in New York, features historic performances of Mahler and Bach by the much-loved contralto during her triumphant visits to the United States in 1948 and 1950.

The Appendix to Winifred Ferrier's The Life of Kathleen Ferrier contains "taken from her own notebook, a list of what she sang" (pp.Ferrier’s accompanists on this CD are three of her friends and valued collaborators –Bruno Walter, Gerald Moore and Frederick Stone. Pianist Julian Jacobson, son of composer Maurice Jacobson, whose melancholy but sensuous The Song of Songs is heard in a 1947 BBC broadcast, also provides a personal poignant note on Ferrier’s championing of his father’s work. The other source is the remarkable collection of Kenneth Leech, a composer and engineer who, from the 1930s to the 1950s, recorded numerous broadcasts, mainly using Bakelite and metal discs – the usual way for an enthusiast to preserve radio programmes at that time. For CDs Grading does not include Jewel case as these are replaceable - however any badly damaged Jewel cases will be replaced. It was a considerable honour for Ferrier to be invited… what was quite astonishing was that of all the 15 soloists taking part [she] was the only non-native German speaker.

The following list is neither up to date nor entirely accurate, particularly in regard to a CD issue, entitled 'Kathleen Ferrier Remembered', released in June 2017, on SOMM264, comprising 26 tracks, 19 of which have never previously been issued. In April 2019, a recording of Ferrier singing in Bach's 'Magnificat' during the 1950 Vienna International Bach Festival was issued for the first time. Its companion pieces are the English-language recordings of Cantatas Nos 11 (the Ascension Oratorio) and 67 that Ferrier made with Reginald Jacques… and both handsomely remastered… It’s easy to forget how pioneering they were in their day: they were among the first recordings of any of the choral cantatas to be made; and Jacques’s insistence on smallish forces and absolute clarity of texture and polyphony was deemed both novel and controversial at the time. It is rare in our experience that items go missing entirely, but occasionally they are delayed by a few days.The music is sung with all the passion and tenderness we have come to expect from that glorious contralto voice, confirming Our Kaff’s reputation as a warm-hearted, vivacious, modest and courageous woman with a wicked sense of humour.