Some observers say Albert Herring's characters were Britten's sly snipe at the wealthy post-war Glyndebourne audience. They said the composer's second chamber opera, launched immediately after World War II, demonstrated his brand of intellectual socialism.

For audiences though, the piece evokes a lost world of inter-war rural life and innocence laced with bawdy humour. Excellent aural jokes delivered at breakneck speed demand concentration on both stage and supertitle.

Characterisation is spot on and the tale is simple and comprehensible. It resonates today where our grungy, cross post-graduates find themselves tied to family lives they despise but depend on for economic survival.

The story revolves around greengrocer's son Albert who is dubbed 'King of the May' in recognition of his apparent virtue.

Humiliated, Albert takes a spiked drink at his crowning then heads off the rails for one night, to the chagrin of his widowed mum.

Better for her if he'd died, rather than shame the family.

For half a century critics have argued it's a 'coming out' parable (the exact nature of Albert's rebellion is not made clear - the first ever production starred Peter Pears); a reflection on Britten's difficult relationship with his own possessive mother or simply a wish to identify with the vibrant new working classes.

Essex lad Robert Murray makes his Glyndebourne debut singing Albert – he doesn't just play the role, he inhabits it.

Soprano Miranda Keys, who won the Wagner Society's Bayreuth Bursary last year and the main prize at this year's Cardiff Singer of the World, is a formidable Lady Billows.

If I had to be dragged screaming to the stage and told to present an award to the performer of the night I would have to choose Amy Freston (who sang Miss Wordsworth) and descended on each note with lightness and purity.

The children, too, dominated their scenes – 12-year-old Blatchington Mill school pupil and freestyle dance winner Jack Morlen as Harry, student Jennifer Sidebottom as Cis and Glyndebourne chorus member Katy Batho who stood in for an indisposed Elodie Kimmel as Emmie and made a flawless transition from understudy to principal.

This revival of Peter Hall's production is directed by James Robert Carson and conducted by Rory Macdonald.

Albert Herring is beautiful to look at, thought provoking, witty and at times heart-rendingly sad.

I watched it two nights ago and it still interrupts my dreams.

The production will be staged at Glyndebourne again today (Friday), then Woking, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Plymouth, Stoke-on-Trent and Sadler's Wells.
SUSAN KING