Massenet: Cendrillon (Cinderella)

Massenet's version of the Cinderella story is one of his most delectable scores, and it has found the perfect interpreter in the young Frederica von Stade, here singing so sweetly and appealingly that you want to reach through the speakers and give her a hug. Ruth Welting's high-flying fairy is another plus. There's only one problem with this set, and that is that some goof decided to cast a tenor as the prince, instead of the sort of lyric mezzo for whom the role was written; even Nicolai Gedda can't pull this one off properly. Buy it anyway, for von Stade and the rest of the cast. --Sarah Bryan Miller