When it's good, it's very good indeed.

The Metropolitan Opera would not seem the ideal showplace for Così fan tutte. The house, capacity 4,000, is too big, the work too fragile. But opera remains an irrational art, predicated, sometimes, on happy surprises and contradictions. And so it was on Friday when Mozart's exquisite ode to infidelity returned to Lincoln Center.

James Levine, who yielded the baton to a colleague in 2001, reclaimed it this time, sustaining joy amid speeds that flirted with chaos yet never achieved it. Lesley Koenig's production, first seen in 1996, strikes a clever balance between the bitter and the sweet - more of the latter than the former - and Robin Guarino has restored, even embellished, it with care. Michael Yeargan's airy seaside décors frame the action elegantly, and an almost-new cast of stars shows keen appreciation of ensemble values.

Barbara Frittoli, the virtuosic Fiordiligi, stresses unexpected playfulness in the early scenes yet rises heroically to the pathos of her two great arias. Never mind the breathy tone in those low notes. Magdalena Kozená complements her as a dramatically forceful, musically gentle Dorabella. Earthy, sly and a bit shrill, Nuccia Focile introduces a refreshingly anti-soubrettish Despina.

The male trio provides apt counterforce. Matthew Polenzani's lyric tenor makes Ferrando's ornate arias sound urgent and graceful, even easy. Mariusz Kwiecien brings uncommon point to the baritonal bravado of Guglielmo. Thomas Allen as Don Alfonso, the only holdover from the class of '96, is so wry, so sophisticated that the issue of vocal rust becomes irrelevant.

The performance lasts well over 3½ hours. It seems short. A prominent credit in the programme, incidentally, offers a bracing reminder of temps perdu: "This production was made possible by a generous and deeply appreciated gift from Alberto Vilar."