Customer Reviews

Kathleen Ferrier - An Ordinary Diva

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First broadcast by the BBC on the fiftieth anniversary of Ferrier's death, this documentary is a must-see for her admirers. It also serves quite well as an introduction to her unique gifts (a CD is included of her singing) and a personality that was both compelling and elusive. But for those in the middle, who value her best recordings without much knowledge of her biography, the film will prove more tantalizing than satisfactory. The single private film of Ferrier is edited and manipulated past the point of comprehension, and the same goes for the treatment of "Songs my Father Taught Me": a private burlesque of some of her own vocal repertoire that fortunately is available on a CD. The raw film footage in particular should have been presented near the outset of the documentary. More successful is the editing of interviews (most of them archival) with Ferrier's relatives and associates, and there are insightful comments from Dame Janet Baker, Ian Jack, and Christopher Fifield, the editor of Ferrrier's letters and diaries. On the downside: what misplaced desire to keep up appearances inspired the selection of Patricia Routledge to recite the words of Kathleen Ferrier? Ms. Routledge sounds as old as Ferrier would have been had she lived into this century, and she ends up reading from the singer's broadcast tribute to the Edinburgh Festival, in place of Ferrier's own voice in an archival recording!

This DVD does contain material available elsewhere to anyone willing to invest the time and the money, but here for the first time is an enormous amount of material, from family, other musicians, critics, and friends of Kathleen Ferrier.

I learned for the first time what a comic she was; there is a film clip of her performing a naughty song at the piano, with all the funny faces she makes as she improvises for a laugh. One learns how anxious John Barbirolli was to try and prevent Kathleen Ferrier from becoming what was called -with obviously derogatory intent- an Oratorio vocalist.

The Ferrier legend continues to live; there is general agreement about her character and her sweet nature, and a picture that already exists of a woman not spoiled by her evident physical beauty is confirmed.

Highly recommended, until something better comes along.

Archimedes

This is an absolutely phenomenal DVD about Kathleen Ferrier.
I had heard the name before, but I never had any idea everything she had accomplished, and how amazing her voice was !!!
HIGHLY Recommended !!!!

We got here a fresh (meaning recent) look on Ferrier, who was a splendid British contralto and a remarkable person. Out of this line of interviews, she comes out a a happy, very funny character who loves life, cigarettes, drinking and most probably sex. The people interviewed give their honest opinion, and I retain that Ferrier was easy to work with, funny, dependable and that she had an even keel. So how come her voice has such tragic accents? Easy, say the people interviewed, she died from cancer early, you sense that tragedy in her voice. I am not so sure this is the only reason.
I do remember a series of interviews much older, probably done over 30 years ago, when Ferrier's sister was still alive. It turns out that her father - a father she adored, was a man difficult to please: nothing she did was perfect enough, whether it was her piano playing or her singing. You do not marry this young if you are in a happy supportive family: Ferrier got married as soon as she could. It was not good for her, though, although her husband was praised for challenging her to sing in a contest, I clearly remember that he also claimed she would never make it. Here came another man who thought she was not good enough. In Ferrier's generation as in mine, you put on a happy face, you did not share what was devastating to you. The day of her last representation,just before she died, she fell and broke her hip. Her sister asked what she could do, Ferrier said: "Call an ambulance." Everybody laughed, they thought it was a joke. It is very telling that Ferrier did not insist.
In other words, I think this video lacks instinct and knowledge of the Victorians inner soul.
It is missing all that made of Ferrier an extroardinary diva, not an ordinary one!