This season's Metropolitan Opera revival of Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida," once the most popular opera in the company's repertory, but considered increasingly difficult to cast with the requisite dramatic voices, featured newcomers, or relative newcomers, of interest; an exciting stalwart; and a cast member of whom little was expected, but whose presence would guarantee that the performance could take place. I went to the October 16 hearing hoping for little more than the Angela M. Brown and Dolora Zajick show, with Brown's Met debut, in the title role in 2004, having made the front page of the New York Times and Zajick's forceful Amneris a known quantity, but the Met threw us a curious curve with an unscheduled appearance by Roberto Alagna, singing his first local Radamès.

Brown & Zajick

I hadn't yet heard Brown, who will also sing Amelia in Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera" here in the spring, and, found that, once past some bottled up low tones, she contributed a strong lyric presence as Aida. Moving in her conflict between personal love and patriotic loyalty in "Ritorna vincitor," at the end of the first scene, Brown handily negotiated the solo's wide vocal range, as well as its varied dynamics, with breath power to spare for the long, quiet lines. In the big ensembles, her voice easily rang out over all, and she displayed a secure high C.

Brown not only held her own, in duet with Zajick's powerhouse princess, no mean feat in itself, but also made more than her share of the sparks that flew. In the Triumphal Scene, one could clearly see the soprano wanting to break in, or at least break into tears, when Radamès and Amneris joined hands with Pharaoh's blessing. In Act Three, Brown delivered almost as smooth, ravishing, and yearning an "O patria mia" as one would wish and continued, with luster, in the duets with Andrzej Dobber, a commanding Amonasro, new this season, and with Alagna.

It is still a surprise to encounter Alagna tackling as strenuous a role as Radamès--an assignment in which he was booed at La Scala, causing him to walk out--considering that not very long ago, he made a most lyrical Nemorino, in Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore," and Duke of Mantua, in Verdi's "Rigoletto." Alagna presented a striking appearance in the first scene of "Aida," showing off a well-sculpted bare chest, and seemed to approach "Celeste Aida" lightly enough that it seemed likely he would cap it with a soft high B-flat, the way Carlo Bergonzi did. But after slowing the pace of the aria, he ended with a full-strength top tone and followed it with a quiet mid-range repeat of "vicino al sol," as sanctioned for Richard Tucker by Arturo Toscanini and later adopted by Plácido Domingo. Once past "Celeste Aida," Alagna sometimes sounded as if he were in an opera of his own creation, when not glued to the prompter's box, and made one recall that Franco Corelli took many musical liberties as well! Throughout the evening, when Alagna sang the intimate lines gently, his presence here felt justified, but when his louder tone turned worrisomely raw, one realized that this was not really repertory that was right for him.

Preceded by word from San Francisco, Reinhard Hagen, making his debut as the King of Egypt, sounded dry in the first scene, with Vitalij Kowalijow, the other leading bass, as Ramfis, disclosing the rounder sound, but Hagen sang with increased resonance in Act Two.

Zajick seized center stage with a vengeance for a dynamite Judgment Scene, the furious cry of a woman scorned that makes Amneris the character that queens most identify with, and Brown and Alagna rounded off the evening with an ethereal farewell to life.

Brussels Opéra Royal de la Monnaie Music Director Kazushi Ono, in his Met debut season, showed sensitivity to the singers, while molding an impressive orchestral account of this masterpiece.

One question raised when director Sonja Frisell and designers Gianni Quaranta and Dada Saligeri's production, staged this season by Stephen Pickover, was introduced, on December 8, 1988, was why statues and things in their ancient Egypt already looked old and crumbling instead of appearing new. Answers might be that that's just the conceit of the production or that, through many dynasties in the desert, time, heat, and sand could already have had the opportunity to take their toll.

Performances of "Aida" continue, with various casts, at the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center, through November 8.

Tickets are available at the Met box office at Lincoln Center or by calling 212/362-6000 or visiting www.metopera.org.