L.A. PHIL SURGES TO SEASON'S END.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correspondent

A RECENTLY published survey finds that North American classical music critics favor John Adams above all other living composers. And for good reason: The Bay Area-based Adams has a unique voice, defined by vivid harmonic imagination, and a mastery of many forms, the boundaries of which he has often expanded.

But that doesn't make his every work a masterpiece. Or even a success. ``The Dharma at Big Sur,'' which Adams wrote for the opening of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, remains a rare failure. On Thursday night, it was heard for the second time at Disney Hall, as the centerpiece of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's final program of the season and something of a preview of the work's East Coast debut, which music director Esa-Pekka Salonen and the orchestra will present at New York's Lincoln Center on June 5.

``Dharma'' is essentially a concerto for electric violin and full orchestra and was composed for Tracy Silverman, a virtuoso on the instrument and, thus far, the only person to play the solo part. The work is divided into two sections, ``A New Day'' and ``Sri Moonshine.''

Conceptually, all this is lovely, and in its stereotypical way, apt. After all, the work was written by a California composer for a California orchestra entering a new hall designed by a California architect, Frank Gehry. (Yes, Adams was born in Boston and Gehry in Toronto, but they're natives in spirit, certainly.)

But in musical terms the work comes up short, monotonous even by the minimalist standards Adams claims to have renounced. The piece is a pastiche, making contact with various touchstones (Richard Strauss, country-folk rhythms, New Age blandness) on its circuitous journey. Some will find bliss in its repeated motives. Others may seek recompense for a form of aural torture believed outlawed by the Geneva Conventions.

Regardless, Salonen and the Philharmonic delivered the work with admirable conviction, and Silverman is a whiz on his contraption. It should be noted that at the work's conclusion, with Adams joining the players on stage, sustained cheers mingled with hearty applause. The composer absolutely deserved them, but not the piece.

Ives' `The Unanswered Question'' opened the program, with Salonen conducting 20 players, none of them on the stage. They were instead scattered in various parts of the hall and largely unseen. The effect was chilling, and the performance of this inherently unsettling work admirable focused.

But the evening's highlight was Ravel's music for the ballet ``Daphnis and Chloe.'' The complete score (as opposed to the two suites the composer crafted subsequently) can be a long haul. But not this time. Salonen kept the orchestra taut throughout the hour-long performance, and the Philharmonic has never played more beautifully, Disney Hall's acoustics serving the music to great advantage. They were joined by 104 members of the Pacific Chorale, which similarly rose to the occasion and provided further lushness. Nice way to cap a season.

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC WITH ELECTRIC VIOLINIST TRACY SILVERMAN - Three and one half stars

What: In the season's final program, conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and the orchestra look back - to works by Ives, Adams and Ravel that they lay special claim to.

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

When: 8 tonight and 2 p.m. Sunday.

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

In a nutshell: Adams' ``The Dharma at Big Sur'' remains all wet, but the Ives and Ravel find the orchestra in peak form.