4It’s certainly wacky. But it’s followed through with rigorous brilliance…musically all is superb; this is the equal of Mariss Jansons’s first-rate Bavarian CD recording, with some of the same cast including Misha Didyk, currently the Hermann of choice. The Concertgebouw relishes the dark hues and the amazing woodwind scoring; the chorus, well-marshalled with the men as multiple Tchaikovskys, is superb.

I adored this staging when I saw it in Amsterdam and love it no less on revisiting it via Blu-ray. Superimposing the composer’s biography on to arguably his greatest opera works ingeniously...Musically, standards are extremely high, led by Mariss Jansons’s inspired presence in the pit...Aksenova sings a steely Lisa...Diadkova is remarkable as the Countess – singing rather than growling her role.

Mariss Jansons adopts some extreme tempos - notably in a decidely speedy central love duet - but they all work, and many of them revelatory. The Concertgebouw Orchestra plays with unfailing sensitivity and the choral singing is as precise as it is powerful. The video director does an effective job of capturing a huge amount of stage activity, and the sound is excellent.