DARING 'TRISTAN' SUCCEEDS.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correspondent

IN THE BOLDEST and most successful experiment yet at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic deconstructed Wagner's epic opera ``Tristan und Isolde'' and rebuilt it piecemeal over three days, one act per day, starting last Friday. (The effort will be repeated this coming weekend.)

Titled the Tristan Project, the program was more than an elongated concert version of an iconic opera thanks to nascent dramaturgic and scenic elements - courtesy of director Peter Sellars and video artist Bill Viola - as well as the introduction of music influenced by ``Tristan'' - by Berg, Debussy or Kaija Saariaho - before each act.

Though the program guide indicates that the project is a production of the Paris Opera in collaboration with the Philharmonic and New York's Lincoln Center, the non-Wagner portions of the program are apparently to be jettisoned once it hits the road. Indeed, these concerts are something of a dress rehearsal for Salonen's appearances in Paris, in April, when he leads the opera complete in a single performance for the first time.

For Sellars and Viola, much work lies ahead. Costumes and sets are nonexistent now. Instead, a 36-by-20-foot screen was suspended in front of Disney Hall's pipe organ and images typical of Viola's elemental obsessions - water, fire, sunsets, trees and blank-faced people - flooded the auditorium. (A smaller screen, placed against the opposite wall, served patrons with seats facing the back of the orchestra.)

Given the physical limitations of Frank Gehry's undulating auditorium, where excess space is at a premium, Sellars had few options beyond dispersing the singers throughout the hall. But even such limited efforts may have been a mistake. Despite the overall high quality of the soloists, their erratic placement - at the bottom of this staircase or up in that balcony - meant that they were inaudible somewhere in the hall, at least according to several regular concertgoers seated in the auditorium's less-favored spaces.

But that was a limited problem. More significant was the very mounting of a Wagner opera in Disney Hall, where the sheer force of a symphony orchestra - not incidentally conducted to a fare-thee-well by a music director determined to impress - couldn't help but overwhelm even the mightiest dramatic soprano or heldentenor.

Yet when they could be heard, which was often enough to judge, the singers consistently impressed. Yes, tenor Clifton Forbis, as Tristan, sounded wobbly in Act 2 on Saturday night, but he recovered impressively in time for Act 3 on Sunday afternoon. No reservations regarding soprano Christine Brewer's Isolde, though. She emerged plush and passionate throughout. Fittingly, her finest moment came with her character's apotheosis, when she enveloped the hall in a warm blanket of sound during the famous Liebestod.

The supporting roles were equally well-filled, with mezzo-soprano Jill Grove's Brangane, bass-baritone Alan Held's Kurwenal and bass Stephen Milling's King Marke particularly vivid. And Michael Slattery, a recent Juilliard graduate, gave lambent voice to the minor tenor roles of Sailor and Shepherd.

As to the interplay between Viola's giant projections and the music, opinions will vary. I couldn't effectively absorb both simultaneously. So when you wanted to hear the music, Viola's work was distracting. Yet when a particular eye-catching image emerged - say, the watery lovemaking in the second act - or when Salonen was merely forging ahead in the score, Viola's work nearly banished the music from consciousness.

The chance to hear music without distraction came during the opera's three preludes and at the start of each program. Though Berg's orchestration of three movements from the ``Lyric Suite'' on Friday and a nonvocal suite from Debussy's opera ``Pelleas et Melisande'' on Saturday seemed like unnecessary makeweights, Kaija Saariaho's ``Cinq Reflets,'' a half-hour song cycle created from her opera ``L'Amour de Loin'' receiving its West Coast premiere, had precisely the opposite effect, illuminating the Wagner on Sunday. Perhaps that was because Saariaho's work included two singers (soprano Heidi Grant Murphy and baritone Kyle Ketelsen). Regardless, her music's beguiling exotic lushness proved a compelling contrast to the Sturm und Drang of ``Tristan.''

THE TRISTAN PROJECT - Three stars

What: Esa-Pekka Salonen and the L.A. Philharmonic perform Wagner's ``Tristan und Isolde'' in three concerts featuring video projections by Bill Viola. Peter Sellars directs. With Clifton Forbis and Christine Brewer as the ill-fated lovers and music by Berg, Debussy or Saariaho preceding each act.

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

When: Act 1 - 8 p.m. Friday; Act 2 - 8 p.m. Saturday; Act 3 - 2 p.m. Sunday.

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

In a nutshell: Salonen's first foray into ``Tristan'' reveals a forceful Wagnerite, with Viola's striking projections a visual bonus. Too early to tell how this will play in Paris, though.

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The Tristan Project at Disney Hall uses video projections and some unorthodox staging to accompany Wagner's music.