CLASSICAL BEAT : SALONEN GOES FOR THE SCORE.

Byline: Lynette Rice

Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic were in Studio City this week as part of their ongoing exploration of 20th-century music - in this case, the sounds of American film.

Salonen and the L.A. Phil are making their first recording of music from the film scores of Bernard Herrmann, including excerpts from the musical scores of Alfred Hitchcock films.

An extended suite from ``Psycho'' will be featured on an upcoming Salonen/L.A. Phil Sony Classical CD, along with highlights from Hermann's scores for ``Marnie,'' ``Vertigo,'' ``Fahrenheit 451,'' ``Taxi Driver,'' ``The Man Who Knew Too Much'' and ``North by Northwest.''

``I am very interested in the music associated with our city,'' Salonen said in a release from the L.A. Phil. ``I have started to look into the music of the Hollywood composers and find that some of the scores are of extremely high artistic quality and they absolutely deserve to be heard.''

Operatic soundbite The Los Angeles Opera is getting some television airtime with ``The Elixir of Love,'' the company's next production slated to open Saturday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

A slick commercial created by Kovel, Kressler and Partners in Santa Monica features a simple image of a person picking off petals from a daisy in a ``she loves me, she loves me not'' mini story line. The commercials air on KNBC during the highly rated ``Today'' morning show.

``It's so expensive but we had to do it,'' said Elizabeth C. Connell, spokeswoman for L.A. Opera. ``It's so hard to get our name out there in a manner in which people are going to see it. It's such a fun show. We're hoping we generate a lot of ticket sales from it.''

``The Elixir of Love,'' starring Thomas Allen and Ramon Vargas, runs through May 5.

Etc. The Los Angeles Master Chorale will hold its gala season finale with a performance of Verdi's ``Requiem'' at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 11, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Soprano Leona Mitchell will be the featured soprano soloist. Other solo roles will be performed by Patricia Miller, mezzo soprano; Eduardo Villa, tenor; and Louis Lebherz, bass.

Alan Chapman, chair of the department of music at Occidental College, will host the free concert preview at 1 p.m. in the Grand Hall of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Tickets range from $7 to $48 and are available in all sections of the Pavilion except the Founders Circle, which is sold out. To purchase tickets, call Ticketmaster at [phone].