CLASSICAL / SNEAK PEEK : PAIR FROM FINNISH-ING SCHOOL STRIKE RIGHT CHORD.

Boyishly photogenic and precociously talented, Finnish pianist Olli Mustonen and his ex-countryman, L.A. Philharmonic conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, could pass for first or second cousins. When they show up together on stage, as they frequently do, audiences could be forgiven for wondering whether Helsinki has a few more of these guys stashed away in a gene pool somewhere.

Still a year or two shy of his 30th birthday, Mustonen has been lauded for a robust, idiosyncratic style. One reviewer has referred to his ``near-irrepressible hormonal energy'' and ``excitability,'' a reference to the young pianist's blurred-finger execution. His growing discography includes large hunks of Beethoven and Stravinsky, plus selected works of Hindemith, Grieg, Janacek and Prokofiev.

He and Salonen will pair up again for four concerts this weekend at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, spotlighting Mustonen's rendition of Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1. Also on the program: ``Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta,'' by Bartok.

Performances are 8 p.m. today and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Music Center. Tickets are $8 to $60. To order, call [phone].

Playing our tune: For months we've been hearing that Esa-Pekka Salonen was sweating away on a new piece dedicated to his adopted hometown.

He was busy working on it. Or he was too busy to work on it.

Or whatever. The Maestro finally has emerged from his labors, right on schedule, to unveil ``L.A. Variations,'' a large-orchestra work that will have its world premiere at 8 p.m. Thursday and Jan. 17 and 2:30 p.m. Jan. 18 at the Music Center. It's Salonen's first commissioned piece for the Philharmonic.

The orchestra also will perform Debussy's ``La damoiselle elue,'' featuring soprano Joan Rodgers and mezzo-soprano Monica Groop; and Stravinsky's ``Oedipus Rex,'' with narration by actor Maximilian Schell, and vocal performers Groop, tenor Jorma Silvasti as Oedipus, bass-baritone Willard White as Creon, bass Kenneth Cox as Tiresias and tenor Robert Lee as the Shepherd, with the men of the Los Angles Master Chorale.

Tickets are $8 to $60. To order, call [phone].

By George: Stereophile magazine describes pianist Lincoln Mayorga as a ``top-ranked'' musician with an ``unquestioned flair for the (George) Gershwin style.''

Those sound like OK credentials to perform ``Gershwin and Friends,'' Mayorga's Tin Pan Alley tribute on Sunday at the Wiltern Theatre. He'll swing through Eubie Blake, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington and others at 1:30 and 3 p.m., at the landmark art deco theater, 3790 Wilshire Blvd. at Western Avenue. Tickets are $21 and $26. Call [phone].