Anthony Tommasini

If the production had some interesting ideas, however unevenly executed, so, too, did the conducting of Valery Gergiev.

This worked on Friday, thanks to an impressive cast led by the baritone Peter Mattei in the title role and the soprano Elza van den Heever as Marie, Wozzeck’s common-law wife, as well as the lucid, radiant and restless performance that the conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin drew from the Met orchestra.

Phelim McDermott’s staging, with designs by Tom Pye, makes a virtue of the slow-building, mood-setting opening scenes. During that prelude, we see only a screen with splotchy colors and shadowy hints of people behind, while the music gradually unfolds.

Every singer in the cast was outstanding. It was wonderful to see the veteran mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves as Maria, the tough-talking matriarch of Catfish Row.