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Neri had a shockingly truncated recording career. Born in 1909 he made his debut in Rome in 1935 but his career really took off after the War when he visited La Scala and Covent Garden and theatres further afield. His first discs were made in 1951 but he died a scant seven years later, felled by a heart attack as he was leaving for a visit to London. He did record Aida under Vittorio Gui and Mefistofele but his major contribution was probably La Gioconda with Callas under Antonino Votto in 1952.

Known mainly as a Verdian he did also sing Wagner but Preiser’s compilation disc is exclusively an Italian one recorded by Cetra and Urania between 1951 and 1953. The sides show his many gifts: a big, burnished voice, sonorous and dramatic. His Rossini is certainly leonine but perhaps could do with a dose of wit and a better sense of projection. His Don Carlo however is effulgent and strong and there are constant reminders of his stature, notwithstanding the depth of competition he faced at the time - Christoff, Siepi and Pasero amongst a number of leading basses. For all that there are hints here as to why, despite his early death, he never climbed higher in the international tree. He can be rather one dimensional on disc (La Gioconda never really takes off and sounds rather static) and one wonders, as in the extracts from Mefistofele, whether that tangible electricity he clearly brought to his stage roles ever fully communicated on disc.

This selection certainly makes a good case for his place in the hierarchy of mid-century Italian basses. The Cetras sound full bodied and the transfers are unobtrusively good.

Jonathan Woolf

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