Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier” returned to the Metropolitan Opera on Thursday night. This is a verismo classic, a tale of the savagery of the French Revolution. The libretto is by Illica, who also wrote “Tosca,” “La Bohème,” and a few other little shows. “Andrea Chénier” may not be a masterpiece to compare to, say, “Otello.” But it has many inspired moments, and it will outlive all its critics.

Like other verismo operas, “Andrea Chénier” is long on guts, passion, and strength — and it demands about 10 singers who are long on the same. This show needs rough-and-ready voices; no namby-pambiness will do. And the Met had a cast that was up to the job. In the title role was Ben Heppner, the likable heldentenor from Canada. In Act I, he had a few problems: His high notes were pinched and strained, and his middle ones were raspy. He was uncertain of pitch. And his voice was not penetrating a pulsing orchestra. But by the middle of Act II, he was in control, giving us some of that Heppner gleam. And he was as impressive in his soft, tender singing as he was in the lusty stuff.

Now, Mr. Heppner is a cracker, and he did not crack all evening long — until his very last note. That was unfortunate, but eminently forgivable, in part because Mr. Heppner is so easy to forgive. His type of tenor is rare, he works hard, and, goodness knows, we need him.

The soprano in the role of Maddalena was Violeta Urmana, the Lithuanian who began her career as a mezzo. She was under the weather, a fact duly announced at the beginning of the evening. She asked for our understanding. In her Act I music, she did not display her usual power — but she has power to spare, as we know. She also has considerable musicality. And, like Mr. Heppner, she got better as the evening progressed.

Her big aria, however — “La mamma morta” — was not a complete success. On healthier nights, she will sing it with both more beauty and more power. Her high B was dead-center, but unpleasant, which is not Urmana-like. Remember, though, she had asked for our understanding, and, of course, deserved it.

Ms. Urmana is a dramatic soprano of uncommon ability. As long as this ability — the ability to sing — matters most at the Met, she will have a place there.

A word, too, about the love duets between Ms. Urmana and Mr. Heppner. They were wonderful, full-bodied, fearless, and totally operatic. They showed two vocal warriors, engaged in their kind of combat, relishing it and winning. They were standing and singing, or, put another way, standing and delivering. And that is what opera — certainly “Andrea Chénier” — requires.

Mark Delavan was the baritone portraying Gérard, and, like the soprano and the tenor, he delivered the verismo goods. His guts and passion were extraordinary, and yet he was never over-the-top. After he sang “Nemico della patria,” I found myself turning to the friend next to me and saying, “That’s opera.” Higher praise, in these circumstances, is tough to imagine. Singing aside, Mr. Delavan was a moving actor, inhabiting a revolutionary with a conscience.

Another baritone, Charles Taylor, was robust, virile, and glowing as Roucher. And two bass-baritones were on duty: John Del Carlo (Mathieu) and Patrick Carfizzi (Fléville). They were effective in their very different roles. Two tenors, besides Mr. Heppner, were David Cangelosi and Bernard Fitch. Mr. Cangelosi sang villainously and well as the Incredibile; Mr. Fitch made a properly effete Abbé.

And “Andrea Chénier” has room for three mezzos: the Countess, Bersi, and Madelon. These must be potent, lustrous mezzos, and the Met had them in Michaela Martens, Maria Zifchak, and Irina Mishura. Madelon is an old blind woman, and Ms. Mishura seems to be making a specialty of these roles: She was La Cieca in Ponchielli’s “Gioconda” at the Met earlier this season. Rest assured she can sing the young and sighted, too.

Making a splash in the pit was Maestro Marco Armiliato. I have never heard him better, and I doubt that anyone else has, either. He was alive to every page of the score, without any letup. There was energy in the executive. The orchestra was sprightly, alert, and precise; and tense, ominous, and brutal. During the confrontation between Gérard and Maddalena, the orchestra was positively hot. Mr. Armiliato conveyed a true verismo spirit, and this must have had an effect on the singers in his charge.

Those singers included the women of the chorus, who were charming and stylish in Act I. And the mob later in the opera was suitably terrible.

Also suitable is the 1996 production of Nicolas Joël. (Sets and costumes by Hubert Monloup.) This is a grand production for a grand opera in a grand-opera house. It is the kind of production that critics tend to detest as too … well, as too grand, and too “traditional.” Will the “New Met” have the guts to stand up to these critics, eschew the trendy and frivolous, and serve opera? Or are productions such as Mr. Joël’s as doomed as the poet Chénier? Coming seasons will tell.

Until April 18 (Lincoln Center, 212-721-6500).