To mount Meistersinger at Glyndebourne, even in its new theatre, is both a significant step further than Tristan and an achievement in itself. Remember also that this DVD has been released for international consumption early in the life of a show where so many, including the musicians, are new to the work. Soon-to-depart music director Vladimir Jurowski handles the score with seriousness and pomp and is sensitive to dynamics both within the pit itself and in relationship with the numbers and individual singers on stage. He does not as yet make much of the comic possibilities of the crowd scenes – the staging, by contrast, rather over-compensates here – nor achieve that floating quality in Act 2 or the Act 3 transition and dances (where the LPO sound tired) as have Toscanini (who repeatedly told the Vienna Philharmonic ‘è commedia, non è tragedia’), Cluytens, Kempe, Goodall or, most recently, Thielemann.

From his first asides at the Masters’ meeting in church, it’s clear that Gerald Finley has the role of Hans Sachs massively in focus, both musically and dramatically. He is compulsively watchable throughout, moving in his evident love for Anna Gabler’s Eva and ambiguous feelings about her relationship with Walther – the climactic confrontation leading up to ‘O Sachs, mein Freund’ is touchingly handled in the production – and transparently clear about the moments of Sachs’s decision-making as to the creation of the Prize Song and its passing on to Beckmesser. Finley can really sing the role too.

Also on this high level is the work of his fellow Masters, as goodly a clutch of mainly British stage and vocal talent as you’ll find anywhere. Gabler is an effective Eva whose concern for Walther plays well in close-up; Lehtipuu and Selinger (a young Magdalene) have both the comedy and status of their servants; Miles is his normal, reliable self. Kränzle, and the production, play a comic, emotional, prissy Beckmesser, sung ‘straight’, who departs in tears at the end. Jentzsch works hard but lacks the last degree of honeyed tone for his Prize victory.

The production plays in the 19th century at the time of the work’s composition. The sets for Act 2 and the Festwiese restrict the playing area to no obvious advantage. McVicar’s production is best at one-to-one emotional confrontations but rather loud and messy in ensemble scenes. DVD sound and vision are more than adequate. The best of a dramatically unthrilling bunch of other available conventional Meistersinger may be the Stein/Wolfgang Wagner Bayreuth one (DG) for its cast – but only the radical Thielemann/Katharina Wagner production (Opus Arte) is of repeatable interest. This new release is something of a curate’s egg. But it would be mealy-mouthed not to notice the commitment and enthusiasm streaming off the stage, while Finley’s work has to be seen and heard.