I enjoyed this performance when it appeared in VHS, as I have done in its new format. In this 1990 staging Donald McIntrye crowned his career as a Wagnerian bass-baritone with this worldly-wise portrait of the poet-shoemaker. His bearded, authoritative yet kindly figure dominates the performance. He catches almost all the sides of Sachs’s disposition and sings with heartfelt feeling even if some of the warm grain has left his voice.

By his side, John Pringle presents a properly prickly, mean and small-minded Beckmesser with- out turning the role into a caricature, and he sings it really well. Veterans Donald Shanks and Robert Allman bring a wealth of experience to Pogner and Kothner, with Allman, in particular, exuding pompous pleasure in reading out the tablature. There is lustrous tone and much feeling in Helena Döse’s lively Eva. Unfortunately neither she nor the production is well served by Paul Frey’s cipher of a Walther while Christopher Doig is a shade heavy of voice and mien for David.

Over all presides Sir Charles Mackerras with a mellow, thoughtful, finely moulded reading. It suitably underpins Michael Hampe’s perceptive staging. He manages both the personal and public scenes with expertise in John Gunter’s attractive, traditional settings, which make the most of a small stage. Sound and video direction are exemplary – so, for once, is the booklet.

For all that, this version hasn’t quite the idiomatic feel and vocal qualities of Götz Friedrich’s Deutsche Oper production. The cast, headed by Wolfgang Brendel as an exemplary Sachs, Eike Wilm Schulte as the perfect Beckmesser and Gösta Winbergh as the near-perfect Walther, plus Eva Johansson’s charming Eva, is a wonder, and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos conducts the performance of his life. So that must remain the main recommendation. Besides, it is in widescreen format.