'REQUIEM' CONTINUES L.A.'S BRITTEN HOMAGE.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correspondent

Suddenly, and for no particular reason, it's Benjamin Britten week in Los Angeles. On Wednesday, L.A. Opera presented its first production of Britten's most celebrated opera, ``Peter Grimes.'' And on Thursday, the Los Angeles Philharmonic completed the homage, performing, for the first time in nearly a decade, Britten's searing ``War Requiem,'' the composer's most ambitious nonoperatic work.

Written to reconsecrate England's Coventry Cathedral, which the Luftwaffe turned to rubble in 1940, the ``War Requiem'' had its premiere in 1962. At that time, the work was controversial on several counts, but those taints long ago subsided. Still, this nearly 90-minute work remains challenging, as both empty seats and the premature departure of several patrons attested on Thursday.

Of course, pieces dealing with war's brutality and futility rarely concern themselves with keeping people happy. And in that context, the ``War Requiem'' is surprisingly inviting. Essentially a lament for war's human cost, the work weaves nine poems by Wilfred Owen into the Latin mass for the dead. (Owen was a gifted English poet and decorated army officer killed in the trenches during the last days of World War I.)

Britten wanted his requiem to be expansive, and, to that end, he scored it for a full orchestra, a full chorus, a chamber orchestra, a boys' choir and three vocal soloists - soprano, tenor and baritone. The composer also wanted the work to be inclusive. In a now-classic Decca recording conducted by Britten, the soloists hail from Russia, Germany and England. For this series of performances, which run through Sunday, the singers are from England (tenor Ian Bostridge), Germany (baritone Thomas Mohr) and Azerbaijan (soprano Elena Zelenskaya) - which was once part of the Soviet Union, so close enough. The conductor, now that Esa-Pekka Salonen has resumed his sabbatical, is Antonio Pappano, the music director of London's Royal Opera at Covent Garden as of 2002.

Overall, the work received a veritable model performance Thursday. Pappano, who clearly has great personal feeling for the piece, gets a clean, bright sound from the Philharmonic, with the brasses and percussion especially crisp. The choruses are no less well deployed, singing with force, precision and plenty of tonal beauty. Zelenskaya lends apt maternal notes to her rich singing, and Mohr sings with focus and solidity, if not too much personality.

But it's the highly acclaimed Bostridge, here making his Southern California debut, who takes the honors. His diction is letter-perfect, his reading penetrating, his tone lithe and airy. In the work's concluding section, he and Mohr movingly intone ``Let us sleep now'' over the Latin words of the chorus. Britten's music is especially inviting here, so the effect is bound to break even the hardest hearts.

``WAR REQUIEM''

What: Benjamin Britten's work performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 8 tonight, 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets: $10 to $70. Call [phone].

Our rating: Three and one half stars