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As a Strauss opera devotee and the producer of surveys of all of his major operas, you will understand that I became increasingly slack-jawed as I read my colleague Stephen Barber's verdict on the later works and the Naxos Arabella DVD he has just reviewed. He writes, " I care neither for the story nor the music of Der Rosenkavalier , think Ariadne auf Naxos charming but silly, Intermezzo a Zeitoper which has become very much a period piece and Capriccio , apart from the lovely Prelude, rather repetitive and sentimental."

Arabella is then condemned as "a disappointing work", suffering from a libretto which was not one of Hofmannsthal's better efforts, Arabella herself as "a cipher", the male roles unattractive and the music as fluent but unmemorable, containing too many longueurs with an over-protracted denouement. Phew!

SB is of course wholly entitled to express such opinions, and like him I certainly have my dislikes and even lacunae - I can, for example, rarely tolerate Liszt in any form - but as a result, I tend to avoid reviewing anything for which I have as great an antipathy as he demonstrates towards that work.

I am sure he is quite right about the failings of the performance itself and I am equally sure that his recommendation of Janowitz and Solti is sound, but I rarely watch opera DVDs myself; it is not a medium I much enjoy, preferring either the audio or a live performance. However, I would still like to put in a word for a work which I love; several of the duets are among the finest Strauss ever wrote. For my own views and recommendations, I refer you to the aforementioned survey.