Mario Borriello

The Italian baritone Mario Borriello was in fact born in Vienna but travelled to Italy as a boy where he studied voice and made his début at the Rome Opera in 1942, during World War II, as Silvio in Pagliacci. He took part in a number of seasons during the next quarter of a century: at the Comunale Florence, La Scala Milan and the San Carlo Naples. It was not, the evidence of this recording suggests, a particularly large instrument, nor did it possess an especially individual quality, but a rôle like Sharpless does not need it. His career continued until his mid-50s.