SALONEN, L.A. PHIL TAME SAVAGE BERLIOZ.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correpondent

Berlioz is a composer more respected than loved. Oh, he has partisans all right, but like Schoenberg's they have the glint of zealotry in their eyes. Yet their devotion was repaid in spades Thursday night, when Esa- Pekka Salonen led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a rousing, moving, kaleidoscopic performance of Berlioz's immense ``Grande Messe des Morts,'' also known as his Requiem.

Indeed, it was left to those who don't - or didn't - fancy Berlioz to square the circle, to reconcile the awe engendered by this performance with the frustration one often feels encountering Berlioz's densely textured, expansive scores.

The Philharmonic presented the concert under two banners, Berlioz Bicentennial and Building Music, but labels were beside the point. True, this was the orchestra's last nod to the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth, which occurred in December 1803, and it did reveal gloriously Disney Hall's vaunted acoustics, but impassioned music-making, not concept programming, was the compelling force driving the performance.

Salonen is not the first name once associates with conducting Berlioz, but as he revealed in January, when he led a hellbent account of the composer's ``Symphonie Fantastique,'' he has the technical mastery to make sense of Berlioz's complex harmonies and the enthusiasm to make audiences believe in this music.

In the case of the Requiem, composed in 1837 and revised in 1852 and 1867, that was no minor victory. The work is a bear, divided into 10 movements and running about 85 minutes. Its text comes from the Bible and other sources, including Berlioz himself. The first and last time it was presented by the Philharmonic before now was in August 1976, at the Hollywood Bowl. Only Verdi's Requiem, which had its premiere in 1874, even approaches it in scope and force.

And speaking of force, Salonen deserves ample credit for handily managing the outsize forces this work requires. The Philharmonic ballooned to 115 players for the occasion. At times, as in the Dies irae, the percussionists alone - first playing four sets of kettledrums and two bass drums and then four suspended cymbals and a gong - filled the hall with sound.

The brasses were divided into four so-called bandas of four to six players, each placed off stage throughout the hall: in the organ loft, on a platform at the back of the balcony, and in east and west seating areas. The antiphonal effect created by the placement, to say nothing of watching Salonen manage 180-degree spins to conduct these players, was both sonically revelatory and viscerally thrilling.

Naturally, there was also a chorus, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, prepped by Grant Gershon, its music director. At 140 singers, its numbers were practically doubled. Unlike some of the lesser vocal ensembles the Philharmonic has used recently, the Master Chorale produced a sound of admirable purity, cohesiveness and color, giving life to texts that may have sounded stale in less-committed hands.

In the Requiem's final section, the Agnus Dei, Berlioz enlists a solo tenor. Here it was Eric Cutler, who in January had joined Salonen and the orchestra for Berlioz's ``Lelio.'' At first, he seemed to be trying too hard, perhaps thinking that shouting was the way to be heard. But he soon got into the spirit of things, which under Salonen's baton was as much about heartfelt expression as making the proverbial mighty noise.

ESA-PEKKA SALONEN CONDUCTS THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC - Four stars

What: Salonen and the Philharmonic conclude their salute to Berlioz by joining forces with the Los Angeles Master Chorale in the composer's seldom-performed Requiem.

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

When: 2 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets: $15 to $120. [phone] or laphil.com.

In a nutshell: A sprawling, neglected masterwork gets the kind of committed performance that leaves audiences cheering for more.