This strange, French-impressionist work (it is taken from a play by Maeterlinck, who wrotePelleas et Melisande) will remind listeners of both Wagner and Debussy. Only 20 bars of music are given to Bluebeard; this is an opera about his feminist wife, Ariane, who discovers his former wives behind the locked doors and attempts to free them. (Melisande is one of them.) They decide to stay. The work is exquisitely scored for large orchestra and is all-of-a-piece: a psychological drama with great color that flows. The role of Ariane is difficult and long> Soprano Lori Phillips (the role is normally taken by a mezzo) is up to the task, singing with expression and urgency if not very lovely tone in the more tender passages. Best is Patricia Bardon in the second-largest role, that of Ariane’s Nurse. Dukas's orchestration demands both great playing and great sonics, and Leon Botstein and the BBC Symphony supply the first and Telarc the second. This is a unique work, and this performance is rewarding.--Robert Levine