Kathleen Ferrier - Handel - Messiah - O Thou That Tellest

[Hotwok191]

If Handel himself could listen to this his eyes would be awash with tears, as mine are. Even by Kathleen Ferrier's towering singing standards this is simply marvellous.

[Kelsomd]

What a great voice Ferrier has! I did this piece for my college auditions and I absolutely love it; she does such a great job!!

[Tenortalker]

I love the emotion of Ferrier's singing berry5304 and underline that she did not have a tremolo . Here is a dictionary definition ' Tremolo- an excessive or poorly controlled vibrato.' We need to be careful with vocabulary. The American Academy of Singing Teachers has also published an interesting report ' Early Music and the absence of vibrato.' As i say performance practice has come up for reassessment on both sides of the Atlantic, but this recording stands the test of time.

[onaimission]

Isn't it important to remember that only boys and men sang in the churches during Handel's time..so adjustments and adaptations (for better and worse) may occur when sung otherwise....

[jockhamish]

If a singer brings tears to your eyes,then you have experienced the true nature of humanity..Kathleen did that - for everybody...

[kattekop100]

@jockhamish

Kathleen Ferrier ALWAYS brings tears to my eyes, whatever she sings. Never heard a more wonderful voice. My mother (who died long ago) also cried when Ferrier was singing on our old radio.

Ferrier's voice... you're in heaven.

[blackbeasthamish]

Kathleen Ferrier has in my opinion a voice which is unsurpassed. Unlike many well known singers both past and present, she has a natural power and resonance to her voice which does not require her to try and bust a gut. This is a frequent argument I have with some opera purists who frown on the use of amplification in opera. The reality is some singers would beneift from it rather than to produce the distortion which can occur when they try too hard Kathleen was an absolute natural.

[CharlotteinWeimar]

Oh glorious, glorious. glorious!!!

[berry5304]

This is a great recording. If most singers consider tremolo a fault they do not know what they are talking about or it is a case of pure arrogance or envy, any one of these human inconsistencies. Kathleen Ferrier had a unique voice, unsurpassed by any singer that ever lived. What I especially like is the emotion she pours into it. She was a very emotional and very sensitive person who lived very intense but too short. Life is so unfair sometimes and her life was cut off in the most brutal way.

[Tenortalker]

A great recording by the glorious voiced Kathleen Ferrier. A tremolo is considered by most singers as a fault-- be it too slow ( a wobble) or too fast( a judder. ) Ferrier did not have a tremolo, but well controlled vibrato. She sings beautifully on pitch-- just listen to the long note values. There is a danger in flattening out all vibrato in baroque music. In the 1970's there was an over- zealous approach to this leading to some singing lacking in harmonics. Now this is being re-asessed.

[Tenortalker]

 A great recording by the glorious voiced Kathlen Ferrier. A tremolo is considered by most singers as a fault-- be it too slow ( a wobble) or too fast( a judder. ) Ferrier did not have a tremolo, but well controlled vibrato. She sings beautifully on pitch-- just listen to the long note values. There is a danger in flattening out all vibrato in baroque music. In the 1970's there was an over- zealous approach to this leading to some singing lacking in harmonics. Now this is being re-asessed.

[johnkenilworth]

With respect,  I did not mean that. Good tremolo is one of the best aspects of English singing. It comes from perfect control of the diaphragm, which in my humble opinion makes it so much better than the vibrato which characterises much of the singing of foreigners. What I meant was that Handel wrote for plain singing, in a plain voice.

[Pellegrinaq]

Do you mean tremolo is a "tipically girlish" sound?

[Pellegrinaq]

so souple voice for that age! I like women voices for these roles. They're always more dramatic, expressive than counters... I prefer so.

[johnkenilworth]

@Pellegrinaq Whilst I bow my head to Ms Ferrier's peerless art, I do think that Baroque music should be sung without a trace of tremolo. For me that means it should be sung by a tenor, counter-tenor or male conter-alto.

[99Isher]

@johnkenilworth This is an Aria for Alto. It can be only sung by a conunter-tenor (or male alto) or by a female alto. I adore both of them, if the style of singing is correct. But the tenor got nothing to do with this. He could not even sing it. About everything else, I entirely agree with johnkenilworth.

[leored45x]

Nicht neu, aber unübertroffen. Danke!