MELDING MAHLER AND SHOSTAKOVICH.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correspondent

AT A TIME when it seems all programs must be conceptual, it's tough to find something connecting Shostakovich's self-consciously witty Symphony No. 9 and Mahler's opulent ``Des Knaben Wunderhorn'' songs. But on Thursday night at Disney Hall, first-rate music making was enough to link the two.

Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic are said to be in the midst of something called a Shostakovich cycle, performing all 15 of the composer's symphonies over five seasons. But the ``Leningrad'' Symphony, performed last weekend, was conducted by a substitute, Salonen needing the time to work on ``Wing on Wing,'' a new piece the orchestra will play June 5. And with so much time generally passing between performances of these symphonies, it's hard to regard hearing them as anything but randomly programmed.

That said, Salonen led a terrifically committed performance of this most uncharacteristic of Shostakovich's symphonies. It doesn't take more than passing familiarity with Russian music to realize that the piece - full of high-pitched, playful woodwind figurations and fleet string ostinatos - sounds like the work of Sergei Prokofiev, the composer's great rival. The third-movement Presto bears a striking resemblance to Prokofiev's ``Classical'' Symphony.

That's no crime, especially given Salonen's ability to convey musical puckishness. Here he winkingly led the orchestra as if he were conducting a series of bands - woodwinds, strings, brasses - and yet the whole cohered beautifully. Particularly distinguished among the Philharmonic players were principal bassoonist Shawn Mouser, principal trombonist Ralph Sauer, principal flutist Anne Diener Zentner and concertmaster Martin Chalifour.

Mahler's two dozen ``Knaben Wunderhorn'' songs are usually unhelpfully translated as songs from ``The Youth's Magic Horn.'' Unhelpful because though the songs are inspired by a 19th-century collection of folk texts, there's nothing childlike about them. They often deal with death and grieve over lost love.

On this program, the outstanding German baritone Matthias Goerne sang 11 of them exquisitely. Goerne's voice is rightly celebrated for its effortless richness and delectable timbre, dusky but not sepulchral.

He is sometimes criticized for excessive stage movement, and one can understand how that might be distracting in, say, Schubert's ``Winterreise,'' which he will, in fact, be singing Monday night at Disney Hall, with pianist Alfred Brendel accompanying. But in front of an orchestra, which Salonen conducted with sensitive force, Goerne's gestures only enhanced the musical drama.

There were no weak points, but certain songs reverberated in the memory. ``Rhine Legend,'' with Goerne practically pop crooning, was one, and so was ``The Earthly Life,'' in which a starving child fruitlessly begged his mother for food. Its conclusion, with the child's death, was as chilling as the end of Schubert's ``Erlkonig.'' In ``Primeval Light,'' a veritable prayer, Goerne sounded devotional, whereas in ``Praise of Lofty Judgment,'' he embraced overt humor.

It may be worth noting that the last song Goerne sang in this ordering of the Mahler was ``The Drummer Boy,'' a heart-rending account of a young soldier about to be hanged for unmentioned crimes. His ballad of woe ends on the words ``Gute Nacht!'' - which just happens to be the name of the first song in ``Winterreise.'' Pure coincidence, of course, and yet ...

ESA-PEKKA SALONEN CONDUCTS THE L.A. PHILHARMONIC WITH MATTHIAS GOERNE - Three and one half stars

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

When: 8 tonight.

Tickets: $15 to $120. Call [phone].

In a nutshell: An acclaimed German baritone brings drama to Mahler after Salonen and the Phil find the wit in Shostakovich.