James Levine reclaims BSO podium in all-Wagner season-opener

The stakes, of course, could not have been higher. Levine’s health problems have been grueling, first and foremost, for the conductor himself. But they have also tested the patience of concertgoers, orchestra players, and the BSO administration. The city’s musical public needed a strong return from its maestro, and he did not disappoint.

Levine walked in from the wings cautiously but without support. Once he mounted his signature swivel chair and gave the downbeat to the Act I prelude of “Die Meistersinger,’’ he looked delighted to be back in front of his orchestra, conducting with a vigor and zeal unseen since before the latest round of back problems.

This Wagner evening was conceived long before his April operation, but in the end it proved an ideal program on which to ride back into Boston. Over his four decades at the Metropolitan Opera, Levine may have led more Wagner performances than any conductor on the planet. He knows the scores cold, but also knows how to bring them across with maximum dramatic impact.

The “Meistersinger’’ prelude is sweeping, majestic music and the orchestra played it with a sense of occasion. Tempos were broad and stately, the brasses dispensing warm ribbons of sound. Phrasing overall might have been more chiseled but the performance had electricity, with Levine masterfully pacing the expressive climax near the prelude’s close.

From there, Terfel came out with Hans Sach’s Act II monolog, “Was duftet doch der Flieder.’’ The bass-baritone was in excellent voice, burnished and strong but with the inwardness and sensitivity required to carry off this delicate, ruminative passage in which the cobbler reflects and dreams aloud into the night. Levine the accompanist was there at every turn, deftly shaping the BSO’s glowing strings or its piquant woodwinds around Terfel’s vocal line.

This was the pattern for the night, as another two vigorously dispatched orchestral excerpts — the famous “Ride of the Valkyries’’ from “Die Walküre’’ and the Overture to “The Flying Dutchman’’ — were paired with vocal passages from their respective operas.