John Smyth:

>Summary from the busy non-executive--whatever recording you choose, do NOT
>pass through this world without getting to know L'Enfant.  If this work
>doesn't move you--from the child's first sight of the princess, (one of the
>greatest moments in all of music), to the forest scene and on to the final
>choral apotheosis--than *you* are an iceberg.

I know the Maazel recording.  I haven't heard the Dutoit.  But I agree
- L'Enfant's one of the finest operas I know, a tremendously moving,
entertaining, and profound exploration of childhood (libretto by Colette),
with some of Ravel's most ravishing and inventive music.  I like it far
more than L'Heure espagnole - equally beautiful as far as its sounds go,
but ultimately less engaging.  I also find it more interesting than
Schoenberg's Moses und Aron and Berg's Wozzeck.

So there.

Steve Schwartz