Kathleen Ferrier’s highly individual, plangent voice, natural musicianship and high level of personal professionalism made her one of England’s most popular singers during her all-too-brief career.

This disc compiles a large number of her recordings of arias by Bach and Handel, to whose music she brought breadth, nobility and deep emotional commitment. She is accompanied by Sir Adrian Boult and Reginald Jacques, both major figures in England’s post-war musical life.

The Cantata recording appears on CD for the first time.

“Ferrier, perhaps the finest British singer in the period following World War II, was a true contralto with technique and musicality that in the rarefied world of contraltos has never been surpassed.” - American Record Guide

Contents:
Johann Sebastian Bach:
• Mass in B minor, BWV 232: No. 10: Qui sedes*
• St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244: Part I, No. 10: Grief for sin (Buß und Reu)
• St. John Passion, BWV 245: Part 2, No. 30: All is fulfilled (Es ist vollbracht!) **
• Mass in B minor, BWV 232: No. 26: Agnus Dei
George Frederic Handel:
• Samson, HWV 57: Part 1, No. 4: Return, O God of Hosts
• Messiah, HWV 56: Part 1, No. 9: O Thou, that tellest good tidings to Zion
• Judas Maccabaeus, HWV 63: Part 3, No. 1: Father of Heaven
• Messiah, HWV 56: Part 2, No. 23: He was despised
- Kathleen Ferrier, contralto
- Michael Dobson (oboe d’amore)*
- Ambrose Gauntlet (viola da gamba)**
- Basil Lam (harpsichord continuo)
London Philharmonic Orchestra / Adrian Boult
Recorded on 7th (tracks 1-4) and 8th October (tracks 5-8), 1952 in Kingsway Hall, London

Johann Sebastian Bach:
• Cantata No. 11,“Praise our God” (Lobet Gott in seinem Reichen, BWV 11)
- Kathleen Ferrier (contralto)
- Ena Mitchell (soprano)
- William Herbert (tenor)
- William Parsons (bass)
- Thornton Lofthouse (harpsichord continuo)
Cantata Singers, Jacques Orchestra / Reginald Jacques
Recorded 6th October (tracks 9-11 and 18), 1st November (tracks 13-17) and 3rd November (track 12), 1949 in Kingsway Hall, London