Her honours and awards included a CBE and Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society; the Kathleen Ferrier Award (which first took place in 1956, and grew out of the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Scholarship Fund, set up to support young singers) remains one of the most prestigious annual singing-competitions in the classical world. On the centenary of Ferrier’s birth, Katherine pays to tribute to the great Lancashire contralto and explores her legacy on disc via two comprehensive commemorative sets from Decca and EMI, which includes folksongs, Bach and Mahler. 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.

So it seems amazing that, after so long, a treasury of previously unpublished and little-circulated BBC broadcasts is now being released. Paul Campion, author of the authoritative Ferrier: A Career Recorded provides specially commissioned booklet notes.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. Most purchases from business sellers are protected by the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013 which give you the right to cancel the purchase within 14 days after the day you receive the item. In the same year, EMI issued a 3-CD set (Kathleen Ferrier - The Complete EMI Recordings) comprising all her extant recordings for that company plus two previously unissued takes from the 1949 'Kindertotenlieder' and a complete recording of Gluck's 'Orfeo ed Euridice', to which they had the rights. Viele gelten bis heute als Referenzeinspielungen – ihre einzigartige Stimme gilt seit Ferriers frühem Tod im Jahre 1953, im Alter von nur 41 Jahren, bis heute unerreichbar. Some of these were later issued as commercial recordings; others are held by individuals or in the archives of broadcasting companies.

In addition, there are eight treasurable items from a 1949 Norwegian Radio recital in Oslo, which include her only published recordings of Hugo Wolf. It also shows two distinct choral traditions at work, and Bach on the international stage and in the vernacular in the years of post-War austerity.SOMM RECORDINGS is proud to announce the release of Kathleen Ferrier: In Celebration of Bach, a collection of historic performances with Britain’s favourite classical singer of the 20th century very much the star attraction.