This is a superb performance of excellent, long-forgotten music. Simplicius was lost for more than a century, but when it was recovered (including a few patches for missing parts), the Zurich Opera House welcomed it back with a production worthy of a historic event.

Johann Strauss II, like most comic geniuses, had a lifelong wish to produce something deeply serious. Parts of Simplicius come close to that goal, but then a delectable tune in 3/4 time pops up and we are back in the realm of the waltz king, enjoying it all the more because of the contrast. In both styles, the music is wonderful and Franz Welser-Most conducts with exactly the right touch. The absurdist set designs of Johann Engels and the stage direction of David Pountney sometimes call Hieronymus Bosch to mind. This production puts detailed plot summaries on the screen during the overture and at other strategic point--a good idea because the plot is complicated and slightly absurd. It is set during the Thirty Years War and is full of hidden identities, unreasonable rules and sudden plot twists. Besides various tangled love pairings, and the idiocies of war, the plot centres on the figure of Simplicius, a holy simpleton like Candide or Parsifal, and his comic encounters with the realities of love and war.

The story is full of colourful characters, all sung and acted with distinction. Michael Volle is a hermit who has raised his son Simplicius (Martin Zysset) in isolation from humanity until, at age 20, he is abducted by soldiers and comes into contact with reality. Other vivid performances are given by Rolf Haunstein as a rather absurd general, Elizabeth Magnuson as his silly daughter, Oliver Widmer as an astrologer, and Louise Martini as Schnappslotte, who sells liquor to the soldiers. Martina Jankova steals the show as her daughter Tilly, and Liliana Nikiteanu makes much of a small role as a Swedish spy. --Joe McLellan

In a format that ought to be widely emulated, this Composers of Our Time feature comprises a portrait of American composer John Adams, followed by a concert that places his music in a suitable context. Adams has come a long way from the Harvard graduate who travelled to San Francisco in the early 1970s, taking a number of menial jobs while he discovered his own idiom. Those years are vividly recalled by the composer, and the seven-part documentary also features extracts from three of his stageworks, all of which are controversial but relevant in their choice of topics and handling of issues. David Jeffcock's direction makes the most of some stunning West Coast scenery, and the only real drawback here is the plodding, clichéd narration.

The concert portion was filmed live at the Chatelet in Paris, and features the Ensemble Intercontemporain and Jonathan Nott, currently their Music Director and a conductor with a future. André Trouttet is the scintillating soloist in Adams' stylish if vacuous clarinet concerto Gnarly Buttons, while the musically more substantial Chamber Symphony is given virtuoso treatment, as are Steve Reich's classic Eight Lines and arrangements of two Player Piano Studies by Conlon Nancarrow.

On the DVD: Composers of Our Time: John Adams comes with options of PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.0 or DTS 5.0, while the 16:9 picture format captures Bob Coles' perceptive direction in full. Subtitles are in English, French, German and Spanish, and there are three related Arthaus trailers. It all adds up to a stimulating and informative package. --Richard Whitehouse