greg@olivej.UUCP (Greg Paley) (08/17/84)
Seraphim (Angel's budget reissue label) has reissued an album of operatic arias by Eileen Farrel, accompanied by Thomas Schippers and the Philharmonia Orchestra. This had come out on Angel in the 50's and has long been out of print. The singing on this set is great by any standards, vocally, musically, and dramatically. Farrell had a career which was, to put it mildly, strange. She had a dramatic soprano voice which combined tremendous power and range with a sumptuous beauty and ability to spin out phrases with extreme delicacy. She could also phrase with continuity and rhythmic clarity. She also had a husband who was an Irish cop, children to whom she was devoted, and a temperment which was unwilling to put up with the political/social bullshit needed to make your way with the upper level management of world-class opera houses (Rudolf Bing and the Met in particular). She also liked to perform pop and jazz in nightclubs, which more than one potential opera intendant saw as being out of keeping with the image of an opera singer. Therefore, except for the occasional recital (wherein she once yelled "Shit!" when she missed a top-C in Bach's "Jauchzet Gott"), and the very rare operatic performance (miscast as often as not) it was the great career that never was. Do get the record. It is mono-only, but reasonably clear and clean and unlikely to trouble anybody who places musical performance over audiophile values. There is not a soprano performing before the public today who could come within miles. - Greg Paley