BOFFO BARITONE SAVES THE DAY.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correspondent

EVERYONE KNEW Thursday's Los Angeles Philharmonic concert would be engaging. In fact, with Christoph Eschenbach, music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, guest conducting and the beloved baritone Thomas Quasthoff as guest soloist, many in the audiences doubtless expected the program - favorites by Mozart, Mahler and Schumann - to be among the most satisfying of the season.

And for some, the evening surely proved rewarding. Yet much of the music-making was objectionable, despite the moments worth savoring.

The trouble started with the familiar strains of Mozart's Symphony No. 38 (``Prague''). At first, Eschenbach appeared to be obeying the composer's tempo marking - Adagio - with laudable fastidiousness. But that impression soon gave way to a sense that listeners were witnessing a mugging.

With speeds pushed to extremes, balances altered to effect odd phrasings and an overriding sense that Mozart and Bruckner aren't so different, after all, Eschenbach allowed hollow mannerisms to subvert legitimate musical values. Perhaps as a result, the Philharmonic sounded uncommonly out-of-touch.

There was also the matter of the symphony's length. Eschenbach not only appeared to take the score's every repeat, he may well have added a few for good measure. The program book anticipated that the work would run 25 minutes, but at least one watch indicated an additional twenty.

Similar problems plagued Schumann's Fourth Symphony, which closed the program. The orchestra sounded scrappy, and despite a brutal loudness, the performance lacked energy. Though he was doubtless aiming for grandeur, Eschenbach achieved only a disjoined sense of scale.

In between all this orchestral heaving, Quasthoff, the German baritone known as much for his diminutive size as his arresting voice, brought compelling musical values to the stage.

Quasthoff has done much of his best work singing material grounded in pathos, and with Mahler's ``Kindertotenlieder'' (rough translation: dead-children songs), he was in familiar territory.

In these five songs of ultimate heartbreak, based on poems by Friedrich Ruckert, Mahler traces the feelings of bereaved parents in his characteristic fashion - with lush strings evocatively set against brasses braying folklike figurations, eerie percussion interludes and haunting woodwind motifs.

Quasthoff's real achievement, aside from the evident feeling he brought to each selection, was to shade every song differently, his voice embodying everything from the glow of embers to a swaggering father attempting to conceal his grief. Even when employing stock gestures - like pinching high notes in the fourth song - Quasthoff's approach was the opposite of contrived.

Yet the singer's Disney Hall debut also revealed something unexpected: his inability to fill the space. Partly, of course, he was undermined my Eschenbach's overbearing orchestral accompaniment, but even when that wasn't an issue, one had to strain to hear this gifted artist's cries.

CHRISTOPH ESCHENBACH CONDUCTS THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC - Two and one half stars

What: Between symphonies by Mozart and Schumann, Eschenbach leads Mahler's ``Kindertotenlieder,'' with the acclaimed baritone Thomas Quasthoff as soloist.

Where: Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 8 tonight.

Tickets: $15 to $125. [phone] or www.laphil.com.

Where: An eccentric Eschenbach goes overboard in making familiar music novel, but Quasthoff's moving Mahler compensates.