This performance is typical of the high standards of ensemble playing pertaining at Glyndebourne in the 1970s. It’s full of exuberant spirit of the right, youthful kind and acutely observed detail on the part of the ever-alert Jean-Pierre Ponnelle at his excellent best. His staging and own decor, bringing us a distant view of Windsor and – indoors – offering a cosy atmosphere – teem with fruitful ideas that seldom step over the mark into farce, although the ever-present boy and a silent master Page are a bit trying. He’s masterly in his detailed management of the tricky finale to Act 2.

Gramm is a true cavaliere of a Falstaff: we can tell that here is an idealist manqué with a natural dignity of manner and mien, while the American baritone’s singing, though not as ideally rounded as José van Dam (Cambreling) and Ambrogio Maestri (Muti) on the rival versions listed above, is always well-groomed and exact. Luxon is a forthright, dangerous Ford, with just the right amount of choler for Ford’s jealousy monologue.

Griffel is a tall, merry Alice though her soprano is not ideally Italianate in timbre, Penkova a vivid Meg with a bright eye and firm tone. Condò is a younger Quickly than most and all the better for it; her singing is full-toned without being too fruity. Gale is a rather too-English Nannetta; her singing is accurate and poised but a shade cool. She is wooed by Cosotti’s near-ideal Fenton, suave and seductive, ever stylish. The couple’s love-making silhouetted behind drying sheets in Act 1 is a Ponnelle masterstroke. Fryatt is a properly fussy, preening Dr Caius, the late, lamented Bernard Dickerson a lively, amusing Bardolph, Trama a sonorous, idiomatic Pistol.

Pritchard’s reputation is well-served by his prompt, well-paced account of the mercurial score. Dave Heather is a most perceptive director of the video version. The mono sound is more than adequate.

This doesn’t displace as a recommendation either of the two versions listed above – the Cambreling from the Aix Festival, the Muti presented quite recently by La Scala at the small theatre at Busseto – but deserves to stand alongside them. All three are valid though very different experiences, all well conducted, sung and directed. Verdi’s final masterpiece deserves three such loving interpretations.