This is a great evening at the opera. It was an inspired first night, too, one that suggests this current run should be a huge success and that David Alden's new production will become a fixture in English National Opera's repertoire.

As ever, one can have doubts about the staging but there is more to admire and praise than to carp out. The first coup is the dramatic beginning - Peter Grimes bursts onto the stage to abruptly cease the audience's hubbub; there is then some chatter from the community that fills the coroner's room before Edward Gardner cues the orchestra. The use of tables, fisherman Grimes atop of them, suggests already his isolation from the rest of the villagers. The inquest is to determine how Grimes's apprentice died at sea.

There's not much sympathy for Grimes. This only comes from Ellen Orford and, to a certain extent, Captain Balstrode. Otherwise Grimes is rejected, reviled, he will be hunted down and, eventually, at Balstrode's behest, take his boat out to sea and sink it. Yes, Grimes strikes Ellen and a second apprentice dies (as seen here, this is caused by Grimes being distracted by the baying mob).

Of course, the story is well known, the opera an enduring success since its premiere at Sadler's Wells Opera (the precursor of ENO) in 1945. Peter Grimes has been audio-recorded several times (conducted by the composer, Colin Davis, twice, Richard Hickox and Bernard Haitink). I would urge Chandos, for all that it has the Hickox version in its catalogue but has recently added Edward Gardner to its roster of artists, to consider issuing BBC Radio 3's recording on CD (the performance of 21 May is being captured for broadcast on 11 July) for musically this is all very distinguished.

Many things stand out. One is the immaculate diction of chorus and soloists (with surtitles, too, every word should make itself audible) which makes Montagu Slater's libretto more telling than it can be (inspired of course by George Crabbe's poem The Borough). Then there is the vivid characterisations of the roles in terms of Alden's direction, sometimes overdone it must be said, but each person is distinctive - not least the compassion of Ellen Orford, finely revealed by Amanda Roocroft, and Gerald Finley conjures a Balstrode tellingly at one remove from the crowd.