I recently watched the Movie Il Castrato for the first time.  There are
three interesting points that I can see about this film:

Firstly, there is the portrayal of Handel as some king of ogre.  It
seems, he was determined to get the castrato to sing for him at any cost.
He is always shown to be irascible, never smiling and generaly of a poor
disposition.  I don't know much about the life of Handel but I always had
the impression that he was a genial fellow for some reason.

Secondly, the music of Broschi and Porpora is dismissed as of lower
value than Handel's.  Not surprising perhaps, but the reason given is that
these two composers wrote in too florid a manner.  Their music was too
complicated with too many frills (too many notes?) and hence was unable to
convey emotion.  However, Handel's simpler style resulted in much deeper,
more moving music.  In the context of recent discussions here about emotion
in music this is certainly very interesting.  So I'd better name the film's
musical consultants:  Marc David and David Miller.

The other interesting thing about the film is the use of a computer
generated castrato voice.  This was achieved by blending male and female
voices.  The result is certainly fascinating.  In fact I found it
beautiful.

So why can't we have "authentic" recordings of castrato music created this
way.  Obviously it would be impractical for a live performance.  But in the
studio it might add a new dimension and perhaps prompt a re-evaluation of
some works written for this voice.

I can even visualise a CD of The Three Tenors with The Three Sopranos
singing castrato greats, with the ensuing arguments about royalties.  Who
should get the lion's share, the men, the women or the studio engineers?

Bob Draper
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