By George Loomis [Financial Times, 28 February 2006]

It is foolish to argue that countertenors have a more valid claim on castrato roles than mezzo-sopranos. But countertenors have largely appropriated the title role of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice in its original version. For one thing, mezzos nowadays generally favour the plusher, more expansive French revision (as rearranged by Berlioz). And the radical simplicity of the no-frills original makes the disembodied sound of the countertenor especially apt.