My very first Strauss opera had been ARIADNE AUF NAXOS, and even with that under my belt, SALOME was quite the departure. Now, the shorter SALOME and ELEKTRA are my first favorites, and ROSENKAVALIER and ARIADNE are my other two. I never learned any of his others.
Agree with DR Elmore about ROSENKAVALIER being overly long. Opera companies do take standard cuts in some things, but I don't know if this one has ever had the scissors taken to it.
I think ARIADNE, in part due to its structure, has a special magic. I grew up on the RCA Leinsdorf recording with Roberta Peters and Jan Peerce, but I'm sure there are many other great ones, of this and all the others.