Mr. Kentridge sees his role as providing the structure for a production and illustrating broader themes, giving the performers unusual freedom to fill in the psychological specificity. 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.

Tall and charismatic, Mr. Mattei might not seem natural as a haggard soldier prone to paranoia and hallucinations. Yet, wearing dingy clothes and moving with fidgety nervousness, he conveys Wozzeck’s insecurity. During fleeting stretches of lyrical musings, as when Wozzeck realizes that Marie is the only salvation of his miserable life, he sang with burnished sound and aching sadness. While he was chilling in threatening bursts of half-spoken Sprechstimme, you sensed that this man’s life could have ended up differently.

Singing with fervor and silvery tone, Ms. van den Heever played Marie as a young woman of allure and depth who, you could imagine, impulsively turns to Wozzeck in a weak moment. When she erupts in defiance, Ms. van den Heever sent phrases slicing through Berg’s orchestra, and you understood the character’s frustrated power. It wasn’t surprising that she is drawn to the alpha Drum Major (the tenor Christopher Ventris) when he passes by and flirts.