Here is the best seasonal news since the winter fuel allowance went up. You who have failed to get it as a present this Christmas just gone, make sure of it for next. Certain operas, like fruits and vegetables, are best when in season. And how its warmth gets to you – all life long, I’m happy to report.

This La Scala production is particularly good at capturing the Christmas spirit in the Latin Quarter and the snows of a wintry dawn at the Barrière d’Enfer. But that’s Zeffirelli. In such operas, he runs the theatre of the heart’s desire. No doctrinaire imposition of misery upon the audience; on the contrary, wherever you look on stage there is something to gladden the eye. In the current orthodoxy of operatic production, this is revolutionary. It’s beautiful to look at, meticulous in detail, and true to the score and the book.

Vocally we’re, let’s say, a little lower than the angels. Marcelo Álvarez sings a thoroughly competent Rodolfo: his voice has warmth, is evenly produced and is sensitively used. The frailty of Cristina Gallardo-Domâs’s Mimì extends too much (for my liking) to the voice itself: often its limitations can be overlooked, or accepted as part of a very touching portrayal, but there are times (the duet with Marcello, for example), where a more substantial and firmly placed tone is wanted. The Musetta, Hei-Kyung Hong, is delightful in all respects; and a woman with so much life in her deserves a more animated Marcello, Roberto Servile’s voice being no more varied or expressive than his face.

But nothing seriously spoils the joy of this. The sound is fine, team-working among the Bohemians has the combination of precision and apparent spontaneity which betokens inspired and thorough rehearsal, the orchestral playing under Bruno Bartoletti carries an assurance that never lapses into mere routine, and all forces contribute in Act 2 to that blissful sense of well-being which is to be found only in the opera house and only then when all the elements are in place and working together – as here.