Tancredi Pasero

One of Italy's three great basses of the period between WWI and WWII, Tancredi Pasero possessed a noble basso cantante bearing a greater resemblance to Ezio Pinza's grand instrument than to the brazen, massive sound of Nazzareno de Angelis. Slightly softer in timbre than Pinza's granitic voice, Pasero's basso was at the service of a distinguished musical mind and a regal presence. Singing into his sixties, Pasero showed little evidence of his incessant smoking (he had an assistant awaiting him in the wings with a lit cigarette at most performances). Several complete recordings...