Eileen Farrell
While opera singers who dabble in popular music are common, those who do so successfully are rare, and those with large dramatic voices who do so are rarer still. Eileen Farrell was as authentic and natural a blues and jazz singer as she was an operatic soprano. She was in fact much more comfortable on the concert stage, on radio, and in the recording studio than in the opera house. She sang relatively few fully-staged performances and was ambivalent about opera and particularly opera house management throughout her entire career (when she taught at Indiana University, she hung a sign outside her office that read, "Help stamp out opera.") Her voice was huge, but capable of great nuances in volume and expressiveness as well as rapid and accurate coloratura, letting her sing bel canto roles such as Cherubini's Medea, the spinto-coloratura Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore, the verismo Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, and the great Wagner parts of Isolde and Brünnhilde (in concert).
Her parents were both singers, The Singing O'Farrells, and recognizing her potential, sent her to study voice in New York. She auditioned for various radio shows and was hired by CBS for chorus and ensemble work. In 1941, she got her own program, Eileen Farrell Sings, where she performed songs and lighter classical music. She remained with them until 1947, when she began to explore other venues, including the Bach Aria Group. She also began studying with Eleanor McLellan, who helped her hone her vocal technique, particularly helping her develop a pianissimo. In 1955, she sang for the film dramatization of singer Marjorie Lawrence's life, Interrupted Melody (Eleanor Parker acted the role), and the music, ranging from folk to Brünnhilde's immolation scene, showed off her power, rich voice, and versatility. In 1957, she appeared for the first time on the opera stage, as Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana in Tampa, FL, and two years later, sang for the first time in London, in a recital. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1960 in the title role of Gluck's Alceste, and in 1962, won a Grammy for her recording of Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder and the "Immolation Scene" from Götterdämmerung, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Her relationship with Met management was an uncomfortable one, partly due to differences of personalities and her finding the repertoire they offered unchallenging, and her contract was allowed to drop in 1965. Towards the end of the decade, her voice was beginning to show signs of wear at the very top, and Farrell moved back into jazz and blues recordings, and taught music at Indiana University. She made her last record in 1993, at the age of 72. Farrell died on March 23, 2002.
© TiVo
Artistes similaires
-
Eileen Farrell sings Sings Torch Songs
Jazz - Paru chez Reference Recordings CD le 1 mars 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Eileen Farrell - I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues (Remastered)
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 31 janv. 2020
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Berg: Wozzeck (Live, Mono Version)
Mack Harrell, Eileen Farrell, New York Philharmonic, Dimitri Mitropoulos
Divers - Paru chez BNF Collection le 1 janv. 1951
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
My Very Best
Jazz - Paru chez Reference Recordings le 1 janv. 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
It's Over
Jazz - Paru chez Reference Recordings CD le 1 mars 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Eileen Farrell Sings Johnny Mercer
Jazz - Paru chez Reference Recordings le 1 janv. 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 3 - Wagner: Götterdämmerung & Wesendonck Lieder
New York Philharmonic, Martha Lipton, Eileen Farrell, Leonard Bernstein, Boys' Choir of the Little Church Around the Corner, New York Schola Cantorum Women's Chorus
Classique - Paru chez Urania Records le 14 oct. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Eileen Farrell Sings Rodgers & Hart
Jazz - Paru chez Reference Recordings CD le 1 mars 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Eileen Farrell: This Time It's Love (Cole Porter - Robert Farnon - Harry Warren)
Classique - Paru chez Reference Recordings CD le 1 janv. 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Eileen Farrell Sings Alec Wilder
Jazz - Paru chez Reference Recordings CD le 1 janv. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Eileen Farrell Sings Harold Arlen
Jazz - Paru chez Reference Recordings CD le 1 mars 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Eileen Farrell Sings Puccini Arias
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 31 janv. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 1 janv. 1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berg: Wozzeck, Op. 7
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 31 janv. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bernstein conducts Wagner: Gotterdammerung (Selection)
Eileen Farrell, Jess Thomas, Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic
Opéra - Paru chez Urania Records le 20 nov. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis, Choral Fantasy & Symphony No. 5 (Recordings 1960-1962)
Classique - Paru chez Urania Records le 4 mars 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Eileen Farrell - This Fling Called Love (Remastered)
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 31 janv. 2020
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Magnificent Voice Of Eileen Farrell
Eileen Farrell, The London Festival Orchestra, Robert Sharples
Classique - Paru chez Decca Music Group Ltd. le 1 janv. 1964
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
An Eileen Farrell Song Recital (Remastered)
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 31 janv. 2020
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Die Meistersinger, Götterdämmerung, Parsifal, Tristan Und Isolde
Eileen Farrell, Victor De Sabata
Classique - Paru chez Urania le 1 janv. 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carols for Christmas
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 6 nov. 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo