CDs:
Gaetono Donizetti: La Fille du Regiment (Sutherland, Pavarotti, with Bonynge conducting)
Johann Strauss II: Die Fledermaus (Schwarzkopf, Gedda, with von Karajan conducting)

My father was not particularly fond of New Year's Eve, regarding it as something of a false holiday. The writer Eda LeShan, obviously of like mind, boiled it down to one beautiful phrase: "There's no law that says you have to pay homage to the calendar." But thanks to an evil combination of advertising and movies, New Year's Eve remains in the popular imagination a night of impossibly high expectations of romance and glamour, or at least a half-decent party.

Well, even if you are spending New Year's Eve in your bathrobe and doing the crossword puzzle, the least you can offer yourself is as many happy and memorable moments the ticking clock will allow.

Which brings me to my two year-end selections, neither of them new, but both perfectly in the hopeful and forgiving spirit of the holiday, and guaranteed to leave a smile on your face.

The first is a recording I grew up on: the Joan Sutherland-Luciano Pavarotti teaming on La Fille du Regiment (The Daughter of the Regiment). It's quite startling to pick up the CD and hear the tenor early in his career, and in such a demanding part. The natural beauty of the voice serves the role of Tonio well and provides a worthy match to Sutherland's performance as Marie.

As for the story, let's just say it's the tale of a young woman with the heart of a soldier -- well, make that the hearts of a whole regiment of soldiers -- and what happens when the demands of love and duty conflict. Expect a happy ending and lots of showy vocal passages.

If Viennese party animals are more your speed, consider the festivities of Die Fledermaus (The Bat), an operetta as much a New Year's tradition as "The Radetzky March" or "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" and every bit as likely to inspire tapping toes.

Die Fledermaus is a sparkling holiday farce where everyone -- husband, wife, best friend, servant -- has a secret. The champagne flows, the lies are told, identities concealed, flirtations commenced, and everybody winds up in jail -- sort of like the denouement of Bringing Up Baby.

Depending on the production, Die Fledermaus may contain cross-dressing. Do you need a man or a mezzo to sing Prince Orlofsky? Discuss.

If you go with the classic EMI recording conducted by von Karajan, you will be rewarded with the delightful pairing of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Nicolai Gedda. Rita Streich's delicious turn in the role of the maid Adele also deserves applause, or perhaps...

"A toast, a toast, a toast..."

Happy New Year.