Kathleen Ferrier was only 41 years old when she died of cancer in 1953. However, the world had already become so impressed by her majestic appearance and beautiful counter-voice that she soon became a legend. Exactly fifty years after her death, Suzanne Phillips made the biographical documentary An Ordinary Diva, using Ferrier's diary, letters and all the surviving film material. We get to know
… Ferrier privately as a cheerful, social person with a 'down to earth' mentality, who liked to party while smoking and drinking and liked to make her friends laugh. We also learn that this special woman performed as long as possible, under excruciating pain, in her last role as Orfeo. A big downside of this DVD is that subtitles are missing! Plus point is a bonus CD with Ferrier's most famous recordings. And if the voice that reads Ferrier's diary texts sounds familiar to you: actress Patricia Routledge is regularly seen on Dutch television as Hyacinth Bucket. (CP)more
