REPERTORY FAVORITES: Our top ten in the complete operas and oratorios we reviewed in 2008 were John Adams's surpassingly lovely A Flowering Tree, conducted by the composer (Nonesuch); Bellini's La Straniera, conducted by David Parry (Opera Rara); Colin Davis's second recording of Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini (LSO Live); Dennis Russell Davies's mesmerizing performance of Philip Glass's Waiting for the Barbarians (Orange Mountain Music); Alan Curtis's supple reading of Handel's Tolomeo (DG Archiv); Janáček's The Excursions of Mr. Brouček (DG), led with admirable clarity by Jiří Bělohlávek; Pacini's Alessandro nell'Indie (Opera Rara), conducted by David Parry; Glyndebourne Opera's delightful release of Prokofiev's Betrothal in a Monastery, led by Vladimir Jurowski; Robert Spano's Atlanta Symphony Orchestra La Bohème (Telarc); and Ambroise Thomas's delicious La Cour de Célimène, another David Parry project (Opera Rara).