Massenet: Hérodiade

Recorded live at the San Francisco Opera, this Hérodiade assumes that this less-than-great opera--in which the legendary Salome has little of the fascinating, sexual neurosis in the better-known Richard Strauss dramatization--needs all the muscle the performers can give it, and the results aren't subtle. The score is cut (which may not be a bad thing), and though cast members are reasonably well-schooled in the French text, this is hardly a tidy performance, the larger point being the dramatic heat they bring to the piece. And if Renée Fleming, Placido Domingo, and Dolora Zajick firing on all cylinders wasn't enough, they're led by powerhouse conductor Valery Gergiev in one of his few, non-Russian opera recordings. Sound quality is good for live. It's two discs rather than three (such as Michel Plasson's version on EMI with Studer, Heppner, and Hampson). With a gun pointed to my head, this would be my first choice. David Patrick Stearns