“(F)or a certain type of New Yorker, the type who might view fall as a pearl-strand of grand parties staged on a grand scale, fall officially began last night with the Metropolitan Opera’s opening night performance of Gaetano Donizetti’s ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’ at Lincoln Center. This, at least, is how Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, would have it. Which is why, in his second year, he continued his practice of inaugurating the opera season with a lavishly choreographed, heavily promoted gala.”