Contents. Foreword
by Bryn Terfel; Introduction; The Kathleen
Ferrier Memorial Scholarship; The Kathleen
Ferrier Cancer Research Fund; The Kathleen
Ferrier Archive; The Kathleen Ferrier
Society; Illustration Sources and Credits;
Foreword to the First Edition by Dame
Janet Baker; On Recording.
Part I - The Career.
Chapter One, January-June 1944; Chapter
Two, July-December 1944; Chapter Three,
January-June 1945; Chapter Four, July-December
1945; Chapter Five, January-June 1946;
Chapter Six, July-December 1946; Chapter
Seven, January-June 1947; Chapter Eight,
July-December 1947; Chapter Nine, January-June
1948; Chapter Ten, July-December 1948;
Chapter Eleven, January-June 1949; Chapter
Twelve, July-December 1949; Chapter
Thirteen, January-June 1950; Chapter
Fourteen, July-December 1950; Chapter
Fifteen, January-June 1951; Chapter
Sixteen, July-December 1951; Chapter
Seventeen, January-June 1952; Chapter
Eighteen, July-December 1952; Chapter
Nineteen, January-June 1953; Chapter
Twenty, Recordings that might have been;
Chapter Twenty-One, Kathleen Ferrier
on film; Chapter Twenty-Two, Some commemorative
UK broadcasts and a DVD.
Part II - Discography.
Disc and Tape List - Introduction; Disc
and Tape List - Issue numbers and dates;
Disc and Tape List - Title-by-title
listing.
Bibliography; Recordings
by composer; General Index
For someone whose life
and career has made her an icon in the
music world, an artist whose appeal
to generations has endured over so many
years, it is a source of constant wonder
to me that we are here remembering a
woman who was with us as a singer for
only ten years, and only half that to
her many admirers in Europe and North
America. Without any of the negative
implications of ambition (for example
ruthlessness), Ferrier’s career progressed
not only because of her huge talent
and wondrous voice, but also because
she was invariably in the right place
at the right time to meet those who
were able to help her. A chain-link
fence of acquaintances built up from
1942 including Alfred Barker, Sargent,
John Tillett, Myra Hess, Barbirolli,
Reginald Jacques, Pears, Britten, the
Christies and Rudolph Bing at Glyndebourne
then Edinburgh, via Bruno Walter to
the USA, and to Holland via Peter Diamand,
and so on. All she had to do was open
her mouth, produce that glorious sound
and at the same time be herself.
This book first appeared
13 years ago, and in recent times it
has been very hard to get a copy even
in the second-hand market. It will therefore
be welcomed by the many admirers of
our greatest contralto who died just
over half a century ago in 1953, but
I also strongly recommend it to those
who already possess the original book
for there is a considerable amount of
new material in this new edition. The
prospect of reading a discography is
not usually an attractive task, but
this is an exception. Paul Campion has
dipped into the biographies, the letters
and diaries edited by this reviewer,
press reports, BBC and record company
archives, and his own correspondence
with providers of information and material.
The result is a highly readable book
as well as an invaluable source of information
for those who want exact chapter and
verse on Ferrier’s recording work. What
is staggering is the amount of material
which has not reached commercial outlets,
what is agonisingly frustrating is the
amount of music she either could have
recorded but didn’t, or did record but
is since lost. One can only throw one’s
hands up in horror at the ridiculous
contract system which prevailed in the
post-war years, so that artists who
wanted to work together (Ferrier with
Barbirolli being a prime example) could
not do so because of obligations to
their record companies (usually EMI
and Decca). That the BBC either failed
to record certain works or did so but
then destroyed or lost them (Britten’s
Abraham and Isaac written for
Pears and Ferrier at the end of her
life) is an absolute disgrace. As the
author so correctly writes, ‘there is
still so much that might have been’.
That Ferrier never recorded any Elgar
apart from test pressings of two small
extracts from Dream of Gerontius
and a verse and chorus of Land of
Hope and Glory from a live performance
at the re-opened Free Trade Hall in
Manchester in November 1951 is nothing
short of a tragedy. A promise to her
from Decca of a complete Messiah
was scandalously never realised. One
can only hope that off-air recordings
exist somewhere in private homes and
will eventually be unearthed and released,
for surely her Elgar must have been
glorious and is sorely lacking on our
record shelves. I gather as much at
the illustrated talks I give on her
Letters and Diaries and her Life from
people who recall her singing, either
as members of the audience or among
the ranks of choristers behind her on
the concert platform.
So ‘new’ material,
in other words recordings which have
been discovered or rediscovered during
the 13 years between the two editions
of this book, tends to be the repertoire
which already exists in other versions,
such as another Das Lied von der
Erde or Alto Rhapsody. The
author has a safe pair of hands when
it comes to his knowledge of matters
Ferrier, but his unbounded love and
enthusiasm for her voice is the great
motivator. This fascinating book is
more than up to date, even alerting
the reader to forthcoming discs by Pearl
to be issued this coming autumn. It
also discusses the brief footage of
extant film (the party in New York and
her arrival at Amsterdam’s Schiphol
airport), and the celebratory radio
programmes and filmed documentary for
TV and DVD made in 2003 by Forget about
it Films (what a curiously inappropriate
name for a company working on a project
about such a memorable artist!). This
book is a highly enjoyable read, lavishly
illustrated with copious photographs
of her, her friends and professional
colleagues, so it is clearly a must
for all Ferrier enthusiasts. She will
never grow old. Like filmstars Marilyn
Monroe and James Dean, Kathleen Ferrier
will remain forever in the public’s
mind as she looked and as she sounded
when she died at the tragically young
age of 41.
Christopher Fifield
