Search - Joe Wilder :: Eileen Farrell sings Torch Songs

Wow! Catharsis at work.

Marion Morford | Tacoma, WA, USA | 09/10/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I picked up my copy of this CD in China. I knew nothing of Eileen Farrell and nothing of any of the songs. What a surprise!Eileen captures the essence of feeling alone and abandoned. Be prepared to well, wallow in human aloneness. If you are feeling lost and misunderstood, this CD tells you the one thing you need to know - you are not alone. There is an odd cathartic comfort here - sort of like seeing "King Lear" or "Death of a salesman".You could call it downer music, but I find it healing."

An American Original

John Pearsall | Portland, OR USA | 03/02/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I don't know where to begin. Eileen Farrell was one of the three or four best singers America has produced and, incredibly, she excelled at opera, jazz and the great American song in equal measure. Arriving on the scene during WW II, she was signed for her own radio show at CBS in New York. She was only 22 and she soon proved she could sing almost anything. Her voice was huge, accurate, lyrical and thrilling, so she became equally at home in Verdi, Pucinni, Wagner or singing her justly famous Marie in Wozzeck. Then, to the delight of her many fans, she recorded four beautifully produced LPs of the standards from Cole Porter, Gershwin, Arlen, Rogers and Hart and Hoagy Carmichael for Columbia Records in the late 50's and early 60's. For these recordings, her voice became seductive, expressive and intimate. She could sing a ballad and break your heart and then she would swing an uptempo number and make you believe in young love, flowers and springtime. Farrell never sounds like a fish out of water like so many opera divas who try to "get down". She just sounds like a talented singer. No more. No less.



After teaching singing at Indiana U and U of Vermont, Ms. Farrell went back to the recording studio for this series of CD's with Reference Recordings in San Francisco. Her husband had recently died, she had just turned 70 and the voice was still in great condition, so why not? This program, entitled "Torch Songs", mostly contains songs of lost love, regret and "what might have been", always with an emphasis on the blues. Once again, here's Farrell sounding much like she had thirty years before. Still intimate, still expressive, still tender and perhaps a little wiser while she tells you her stories in song. Incredible."