Herodiade
Imagine a version of the Salome story in which everybody is  nice. Don't laugh: That's what this is. Salome willingly sublimates her  passion for St. John the Baptist and closes the opera with her noble suicide.  Of the two recent recordings of the opera (the other being underGergiev), this is the  nicer of the two and, for sticklers to French style, the more logical choice.  The account of the score is more complete, with lots of ballet music that  Francophiles will enjoy and others will find superfluous. Both orchestra and  conductor are French. Other than Cheryl Studer (Salome), Ben Heppner (St.  John), and Thomas Hampson (Herod)--all of whom sing extremely well--the  cast is French and abounds with major voices (such as  Jean-Paul Fouchecourt) in minor roles. But the price is an extra disc:  This set has three, as opposed to Gergiev's two. Also, one must ask whether  a second-tier Massenet opera (which means it's a tad innocuous) is deserving  of all the respect that this recording gives.--David Patrick Stearns