Wexford Festival audiences of 1964 will retain happy memories of the sprightly romp that is Comte Ory. One of the most accomplished of all Rossini operas, its libretto by Scribe is pure farce from start to finish, and in his new production of the work at Glyndebourne, Jerome Savary exploits the farce for all its worth - and sometimes more than that. But it is hard to resist overegging the pudding with this ludicrous tale of mediaeval seducers disguising themselves as nuns in order to breach the soi-disant stronghold of some languishing Crusaders' wives, and there is a brilliant innovation in the ingeniously-raked bed where the lascivious Count Ory mistakenly fondles his own page while he, or rather she, in turn has her amorous way with the Countess.

Andrew Davis gives a perceptive and sparkling account of the score, and there are pretty sets and costumes, with nicely-judged comic touches, by Ezio Toffolutti. The most distinguished singing on the stage comes from Annick Massis and Diana Montague as the Countess Adele and the lovelorn Isolier, and fine performances, too, from Ludovic Tezier as Raimbaud and Jane Shaulis as Ragonde. In the title role of the vile seducer, the young Belgian tenor Marc Laho got off to an unimpressive start on opening night, but soon recovered to strike a vein of rich lyric tone.