Nearly a century after its premiere it's time we wised up to the modernity of Paul Dukas's only opera. Here is a work that suggests most people are unwilling to think for themselves; they prefer to be subordinated. Only the intrepid Ariane, the sixth of Bluebeard's wives, risks fearful liberty in place of familiar captivity. The opera of women's lib? Not really. The first five wives are a poor advertisement for the fair sex. As she leaves them to nurse their captor, Ariane concludes that one can only liberate oneself - and that's a message for all mankind, including those Americans inclined to trust George W. Bush.

The three-act score, with its taut, hauntingly suggestive libretto by Maeterlinck, has long been recognised by aficionados as a masterpiece, but it lacks the popular touch: its beauties are just not obvious enough. Its substance lies in an ominous undertow, symphonically structured and lavishly orchestrated, through which cascading sonorities pierce like shafts of misty light. And so it was a ravishing experience to encounter Ariane in this honest performance by New York City Opera, the first time the work has been staged in the US since Toscanini conducted a handful of performances in 1911.

Paul-Emile Fourny's production, to be shared with Liège, Nice and Turin, is clear in conception, graceful in movement, eloquent in its translucent colouring. Louis Désiré's set makes fertile use of a revolving wall; the women's gowns are a work of art. In the arduous title role Renate Behle makes up in presence what she lacks in expressive timbre. The outstanding voice is Laura Vlasak Nolen's sumptuous mezzo as Sélysette. After a slow start Leon Botstein paces the work perfectly, with a fine ear for its spacious chiaroscuro.

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