Bernstein opera sets come few and far between, but those that do emerge are treated as isolated landmarks. Such was his recording of Richard Strauss` ''Der Rosenkavalier'' of 1971 (CBS M3K 42564, three CDs), recorded three years after he virtually swept the Viennese off their collective feet with it at the Staatsoper.

French composer/conductor Paul Mauriat is a classically trained musician who decided to pursue a career in popular music. His first major success came in 1962, as a co-writer of the European hit "Chariot." In 1963, the song was given English lyrics, renamed "I Will Follow Him," and became a number one American hit for Little Peggy March. Mauriat is best remembered for his 1968 worldwide smash "Love Is Blue."

Dohnanyi always gives good Mendelssohn, a composer whose music responds well to his neat, precise, tasteful, understated style of conducting. The Scottish Symphony captured here displays all of these virtues in lively tempos, typically superb playing by the Clevelanders, and a finale in which the add-on coda emerges with impressive naturalness from what has come before. But the real treat is the coupling: Die erste Walpurgisnacht (The First Witches’ Sabbath), a marvelous and (for Mendelssohn) quite ferocious cantata lasting a bit more than half an hour in which a pack of bloodthirsty druids intimidate a bunch of squeamish Christians.

The stars of this recording of Der Freischütz are conductor Joseph Keilberth, the Chorus of Deutschen Oper Berlin, and the Berlin Philharmonic. The chorus sings with wonderfully full, warm tone and high spirits, creating vivid characterizations of the hunters, peasants, bridesmaids, and spirits that populate the opera. The Berlin Philharmonic performs with complete assurance and stylishness, beautifully capturing the atmosphere of the opera's widely diverse scenes, and Keilberth keeps the dramatic tension high. The leads are more than adequate, but not stellar. Rudolf Schock is a bland Max, and his voice lacks the sheen and resonance to give him a real heroic presence.

Karl Richter's performance dates from 1965, since when it has seldom been out of the catalogue. It is in an entirely different class… Richter's Munich Bach Choir were at a peak at this time and the results are often quite exciting. Under Richter's direction the ''Ehre sei dir, Gott'' chorus…is appropriately lustig with wonderfully light-hearted singing and orchestral playing… [T]he arias with Gundula Janowitz and Fritz Wunderlich…[are] of a calibre which will always ensure considerable enjoyment…

Recorded in 1987, this disc by Belgian conductor Philippe Herreweghe and the choral-instrumental ensemble La Chapelle Royale came in advance of most of the historical-performance recordings that have delved deeply into Bach's cantatas and their world. It was, in fact, the first digital recording of the Trauerode, BWV 198. Despite some competition, this remains an exemplary Bach performance, and it was a superb candidate for reissue in Harmonia Mundi's HM Gold greatest-hits series.

Using the texts of playwright Heiner Muller and collecting a wide range of imaginative musicians, Heiner Goebbels constructed a fascinating music-theater piece that mixes languages and musical styles. The text, read and sung by Arto Lindsay, concerns the thoughts and fears of an employee summoned to his boss' office and has something of a Brazil-like aura about it. Perhaps coincidentally, Lindsay interjects some Brazilian songs into the proceedings. But the highlight is the performance by this stellar ensemble, ranging from free to punkishly tinged jazz-rock to quasi-African. There are outstanding contributions from guitarist Fred Frith, trombonist George Lewis, and the late Don Cherry on trumpet, voice, and the African hunter's guitar known as the doussn'gouni. Goebbels brews a rich stew of overlapping languages and styles in a dense matrix that creates an appropriate feeling of angst, but never loses a sly sense of humor…