Long dismissed by the squeamish as tastelessly voyeuristic but admired by many whose attitudes to the composer were generally far from favourable, Strauss’s ‘bourgeois comedy’ is among his most interesting and straightforwardly enjoyable works. It has not fared terribly well on disc, though, with Wolfgang Sawallisch’s 1980 Munich studio recording for EMI (with Lucia Popp and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau) the main exception. That recording is now available only in a big Warner box (without libretto – 5/14), making this new recording particularly welcome – doubly so, since for once CPO has included a full libretto and translation. The superfluous applause at the end of each act (the performance was taped in concert in 2011) is less welcome.

Ulf Schirmer’s conducting is light on its feet but alive to the score’s humour and tenderness, and he doesn’t drive things forwards as much as Sawallisch occasionally does. The playing of his Munich orchestra is also excellent – the all-important orchestral interludes, showing Strauss at his most buoyantly virtuoso and inventive, are beautifully done.

Leading the cast, Simone Schneider is a terrific if unusually rich-voiced Christine. Now also a formidable Frau ohne Schatten Empress, the German soprano comes to the role from a different end of the Straussian spectrum to the more lyrical Popp or the soubrettish Hanny Stefek, Christine to Hermann Prey’s Robert on Josef Keilberth’s live Vienna set (Orfeo, A/08). But she has all the notes and is wonderful in the final scene’s lyrical effusions. She also has charm, warmth and vitality, while the quality of her instrument saves the character from possible shrewishness.

I like Markus Eiche’s Robert, too. Mellower than the rather hectoring, blustery Fischer-Dieskau but less mischievous than Prey, he nevertheless presents a highly sympathetic character, and the voice is pleasingly grainy. There’s fine work from the rest of the cast, with the mellifluous Martin Homrich standing out as the dodgy Baron Lummer. Brigitte Fassbaender is delightful in the different spoken roles. In good, clear sound, this is an excellent, enjoyable set, and one that, in its way, might prove to be one of the most important releases of the Strauss year.