The Metropolitan Opera's sumptuous Nathaniel Merrill-Robert O'Hearn production of Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal's "Der Rosenkavalier" had its premiere 40 years ago this past January 23, and many legendary names have been linked with it, including Christa Ludwig and Evelyn Lear (in two roles apiece), Yvonne Minton, Brigitte Fassbaender, Tatiana Troyanos and Frederica Von Stade; Leonie Rysanek, Régine Crespin and Elisabeth Söderström; Reri Grist and Judith Raskin; Walter Berry; Nicolai Gedda and Luciano Pavarotti; and conductors from Karl Böhm to James Levine to Carlos Kleiber. The current revival, with Susan Graham and Renée Fleming reprising roles they sang here together nine years ago, will not erase memories of the past ones, nor should they, but worthily takes its place beside them.

The season premiere of "Rosenkavalier" took place on October 13 and I heard the third of the eight scheduled performances, on October 19.

Casting Graham, as Octavian, and Fleming, as the Marschallin, represents the pairing of singers of the great sensitivity and vocal luster that the opera demands. Graham's Octavian, Count Rofrano, is the picture of impetuous, enthusiastic youth, with hormones raging, conceiving of most impractical romantic notions and easily crushed by his more mature love's moodiness and chance reminiscences. As the Princess von Werdenberg, Fleming is very much her serene highness, philosophical and still youthful herself, though more than twice her boyish swain's age. She offers a sympathetic account of her Act One monologue, as she reflects on young Sophie von Faninal's lot, condemned to marry the older, barely couth Baron Ochs, vis-à-vis her own past, and broods, here and in the subsequent scene with Octavian, on aging, the passage of time, and the inevitability of his leaving her for a younger woman "Heut' oder morgen oder den übernächsten Tag"-today or tomorrow or the next day.

Under the baton of Edo de Waart, who, substituting for Levine, kept this "Rosenkavalier" moving at a lively pace and gave the all-important orchestral colors their due, the second act Presentation of the Rose, with Graham and, as Sophie, Miah Persson, was refined and rarified, aptly breathtaking, as "die jungen Leut'," the young people, showed immediate affinity for each other, despite his being the Marschallin's lover, and her, Ochs' fiancée. Graham, Fleming and Persson's climactic trio, "Hab' mir's gelobt," proved every bit the beautiful, wrenching blending of voices that it should be.

Kristinn Sigmundsson contributes a suitably boorish, richly vocalized Ochs, the Marschallin's backward country cousin, and cheats off neither the high G nor the low C in Act One. He readily puts the make on 'Mariandel,' the Marschallin's maid-actually Octavian in 'drag'-in the Marschallin's presence, although affianced, and their 'date,' in Act Three, is appropriately amusing. As directed by Robin Guarino, Graham's 'Mariandel' does not hesitate to land a hearty blow on Sigmundsson's rear, in Act One, in response to his pinching and pawing, nor does Sigmundsson shy of manhandling Persson's Sophie, fresh from the convent school and unused to such crass treatment. Fleming's Princess tells Ochs off in no uncertain terms in Act Three, especially when he starts making ungentlemanly insinuations about her and Octavian.

Hans-Joachim Ketelen copes craggily with the ungrateful part of Faninal, Sophie's father. On the night considered here, Barry Banks made a welcome cameo appearance as the Italian singer, offering a bel canto "Di rigori armato il seno." Rodell Rosel, Wendy White, and Jennifer Check strike the right notes as Valzacchi and Annina, the uncle-and- niece team of scandalmongers, gossips and busybodies-for-hire, who ultimately become Octavian's allies, and Marianne Leitmetzerin, Sophie's duenna, nervously watching over her impulsive charge.

Repetitions of "Rosenkavalier" are on October 22, the 126th anniversary of the opening of the Met, at 7:30 p.m., and in January 2010, on the 1st and 6th at 7:30 p.m., 9th at 1 p.m., and 15th at 7:30 p.m. Christine Schäfer and Thomas Allen take over the roles of Sophie and Faninal for the January dates. Ramón Vargas resumes the role of the Italian Singer on October 22, to be replaced by Eric Cutler in the New Year. Jens Georg Bachmann conducts this Thursday night, and Levine is back on the podium in January. For tickets, priced from $15 to 375, telephone 212/362-6000, visit www.metopera.org, or go the Met box office at Lincoln Center.