Champagne with Kathleen Ferrier - World Premiere

Everybody loves a story. So here's one about a man who had a passion strong enough to bring Britain's greatest singer back to life in the 60th year of the world's first, greatest and best festival. He knows how to charm his audience and treat it with style (a champagne breakfast to while away the waiting time) then tell this story in an elegant, intimate setting.

Once upon a time, there was a feisty Lancashire Lass, full of rollicking humour and possessed of a decidely clear idea of what she wanted to do in the world. An untrained lass without the breaks given to others but blessed with a unique and unforgettable voice. She wanted to sing, sing all that music ideally suited to her warm luscious voice. Everyone said she was a joy to work with and she enchanted the greats of the music world. But in the way of many fairy stories this heroine died far too young. But her legend lives on and is still going strong more than half a century later.

She lived through critical times for her country and the world. Her career lasted little more than a dozen years from her first professional engagement, singing Handel's Messiah in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in December 1940. The Messiah was also to be her farewell to the Edinburgh International Festival in September 1952. In all, she sang at every one of the first six Edinburgh Festivals but never made it to the planned seventh. She is still the brightest star in UK vocal music.

Who is she? None other than our own Kathleen Ferrier, revered in her day by all who saw and heard her, even more revered by all those too young to have been there but have mostly heard her singing a few songs or arias on radio or listen to her recordings. Does a sneaking doubt creep in that our memories are not quite accurate or that recording techniques of the Fifties didn't give a true picture? Maybe.

Enter Paul Campion and Elayne Sharling to to tell Klever Kaff's tale in as haunting and striking a manner as as KK's voice itself weaves its unique spell from its very first notes. It's KK's own story, drawn from the letters and diaries, her own words and, an especial treat, rare archive recordings of her voice in action. More than half of the extracts are from 'live' performances at her six Festivals.

The tale opens with Kathleen herself telling us about Edinburgh and what it meant to her, then it swings straight in to a couple of minutes from the 1952 Brahms Liebeslierder-Walzer. Suddenly she's in the room with us and it's very hard not to feel a sense of inhabiting her world. Paul Campion narrates her story while Elayne Sharling speaks her words. But make no mistake, the very first voice we heard is Kathleen Ferrier herself.

For one glorious hour we were priviledged to walk with Kathleen, Katie to her good friend Sir John (her Tita) and Lady Barbirolli. Amazingly we heard her good wishes for Barbirolli's debut conducting performance of the Messiah just some nine months before her own farewell one to Edinburgh! And that they presented her with her 40th birthday cake - the first one she'd ever had.

In this hall, we began to know Bruno Walter, Sir Malcom Sargent, Sir John Barbirolli, the music of Mahler and Brahms, the things she liked and disliked and oh, so much more.

Most of all, there was that very rare and wonderful privilege of hearing the young Kathleen Ferrier's voice mature and open up into that glorious haunting sound world full of shadings and tones to enchant the listener. And to hear it via recordings of her voice both live and studio-based. Mahler truly took Bruno Walter by one hand and Klever Kaff by the other to say that most haunting of farewells: Das Lied von der Erde's magical Ewig... Ewig,..Ewig... of May 1952 recorded in Vienna.

This gorgeous hour ended with Kathleen's voice, as it had begun. Not only have we seen and heard Kathleen in the full vitality of life but also her beloved Edinburgh International Festival's birth and early years sprang vividly to life in this, its 60th birthday year.

For all who love music this is a 'must see' event; to hear, in context, that unique voice grow through its finest six years is to know that Kathleen Ferrier really is the brightest star in the British firmament. It is also to know that the Edinburgh International Festival sat on the pinnacle of music's marvellous mountain - from Day One. No doubts!

You only have a few days to do that.

This multimedia event is dedicated to the memory of the broadcaster and music writer Alan Blyth who died on 14 August 2007

© Pat Napier 20 August 2007 Published on www.edinburghguide.com.
© Images Norward Inglis, Paul Campion, Elayne Sharling and www.champagnewithkathleenferrier.co.uk
* Liebeslier-Walzer Performers: Clifford Curzon and Hans Gal (piano), Irmgard Seefried, Kathleen Ferrier, Julius Patzak and Horst Günter, Soloists. All images by kind permission of Paul Campion

Run 19-27 August 2007