To be Orpheus, and die: such was the fate of Kathleen Ferrier, the English contralto, who died aged only 41, just over 50 years ago. Yet in only a few days, recording with Bruno Walter and the Vienna Philharmonic, she did enough to assure her immortality.

In 1946, Kathleen Ferrier made her stage debut in the Glyndebourne Festival (Britten's 'The Rape of Lucretia', premiere). A year later she made her first appearance as Orfeo in Gluck's 'Orfeo ed Euridice'. As her reputation grew, Ferrier formed close working relationships with major musical figures, including Britten, Sir John Barbirolli, the pianist Gerald Moore and, of course, Bruno Walter, with whom she explored Mahler in particular.