Alice in Wonderland: Bavarian State Opera (Kent Nagano) (2007)

At 123 minutes it's a little long, but Chin's dreamlike opera feeds entertainingly from Lewis Carroll's strange imagination throughout its length in Achim Freyer's inventive production. It's not particularly child-friendly, although certain scenes - A Mad Tea Party, with its busy Prokofiev-style strings and impish verbal wit for instance - are utterly charming. Chin's score mixes pastiche with original invention, often with exotic instrumentation such as heavy temple bells or the Mock Turtle's harmonica. Sally Matthews is outstanding as the innocent, inquisitive Alice, centre stage and masked throughout, but the biggest cheer goes to Gwyneth Jones's thunderous Queen of Hearts.