In this welcome revival of Berg's masterpiece, Adolf Dresen's 1987 slick staging still impresses after more than seven years since its last showing. A simple black drop screens the numerous scene changes which flow smoothly to serve the action unobtrusively and with authenticity, and which provide the artists with a solid foundation upon which to build their characters.

In the title role, Simon Keenlyside creates a fidgety, whipped-dog figure - a finely-tuned, intense and (ultimately) sympathetic portrayal, and one ideally-suited to his physical stature. His vocal quality and style are, however, essentially lyrical and lacking in the basic reserve to naturally take advantage of the text, be it in moments employing Sprechgesang or in the character's dramatic passages - making this an interpretation that might have greater impact in a more modest setting.

Anne Schwanewilms is an impressive and multifaceted Marie, blessed with voluptuous good looks and a Jugendlich dramatischer Sopran that responds with ease to the score's demands, powerfully infused with emotion and colour - whether in her tender moments with the child, her intimate Bible scene, or the dramatic outbursts which hint distinctly at her Wagnerian repertoire.

Gary Lehman impresses more through his physical than vocal stature as the Tambourmajor, and Monika Bohinec relishes nicely in her buxom portrait, as Margret.

Herwig Pecoraro's eccentric Hauptmann is dauntingly shrill - an imposing figure, and one which contrasts well with Wolfgang Bankl's delightfully-bourgeois and unsympathetic Doktor. Both, delightful and well-articulated cameos.

Top marks too for a lovely performance by Ruben Kastelic as Marie's son, with his unusual sense of discipline and timing in a role whose importance is not to be underestimated.

Other supporting roles were competently taken, and included Norbert Ernst as Andres, and Peter Jelosits as Der Narr.

Dennis Russell Davies (stepping in for an indisposed Franz Welser Möst), gave an illustrious house debut. Essentially consummate control between pit and stage was marred only slightly by the dynamics in the pit, which presented an occasional challenge to the singers. The brief orchestral interludes towards the end of the evening almost raised the roof, and hinted just a touch at a first-time drive in a longed-for Ferrari.

An important, and well received revival.