San Francisco performance of Lou Harrison's work proves why he is so beloved.

Classical

The San Francisco Symphony''s Michael Tilson Thomas has achieved the miraculous. He has found a way to pack Davies Symphony Hall with audiences who come to hear music they''ve never heard before. Can you name any other classical music producer that can--without a superstar soloist--fill a hall that way? In recent decades, the only West-Coasters who come to my mind are the Kronos Quartet and the Cabrillo Music Festival.

In his American Mavericks series, MTT scheduled only three programs dedicated to single composers. Of them, the only one living is Lou Harrison, the Aptos resident who co-founded the Cabrillo Festival and has countless fans, colleagues and students in the region. Last Thursday, Harrison got his program, comprising three works of different styles. It was a triumphant celebration, attracting many from the Monterey Bay area, winning cheers from the full-house audience, and plainly giving Harrison a big lift following the death two months ago of his life-companion, Bill Colvig.

In the setting, Harrison occupied a box over stage right, and was invited by MTT from the podium to remark on each piece. The composer''s image in video was projected on two huge TV screens above the stage, left and right. When he praised Tilson Thomas, the conductor bellowed back, "Talk about you, not me."

It would be no exaggeration to say that Harrison''s fans love him. Even when his music can explode violently in the ear, as it did in his Organ Concerto, an inevitable honesty and genuineness of purpose always comes through. Matter-of-factly, he said the work was the result of two requests, one for an organ piece and the other for a percussion ensemble. He merely put the two together.

Just as easily, he uses an enormous variety of percussion, including several instruments built by Colvig (notably the cut-off oxygen cylinders and plywood cubes that sound a bit like tom-toms) plus piano and celesta. While the color palette was amazing, it fell short of reiterating its subtle details enough to lock itself into memory, at least on one hearing. The organ part, played by John Walker, carried the same dilemma. Nevertheless, the performance grew in scale and intensity, and at last reached full-blown eruption at fortissimo, bringing the audience to its feet.

Scaled more like chamber music was the Suite for Violin and American Gamelan, a work that demands great virtuosity from the soloist and a unique gamelan. Harrison explained that this one, called "old granddad," was the first built by Colvig. Its metalophones use bronze slabs over large hanging resonating tubes, held together in frames painted in Chinese red lacquer. The low tones plumbed profound, resonant depths.

But the star was violinist Chee-Yun. It would be hard to imagine a more perfect soloist for the piece. Not only did the Denon recording artist totally dominate the part''s non-stop virtuosity, but she added voluptuous tone and expression that, at the end of the long first movement, sank to a whisper. No one dared breathe. Her playing sustained that level during the subsequent movements. Sitting with Harrison was Richard Dee, a performing colleague from decades ago whom Harrison introduced as a co-composer of the work.

Reversing the announced order, Tilson Thomas opened the program with Harrison''s gorgeous Symphony No. 3, citing Richard Wagner as having predicted the aesthetic of continuous melody and praising Harrison for fulfilling it. Indeed, the work, formally strict but lushly orchestrated, proved the point. The elongated coda to the finale continued to sing, even after the movement''s ideas had already run their course. But, at the end, Harrison''s music almost always sounds like another thought is waiting in the wings.

Classical Calendar

Candide Thursday, 7pm; Friday/Saturday, 8pm; Sunday, 2pm. Monterey Opera and Monterey Peninsula College collaborate in the production of Leonard Bernstein''s comic masterpiece. Mark Hanson conducts orchestra, with principals Jason Black, Tausha Edwards, Martin Beal. Morgan Stock Stage, Monterey Peninsula College, 980 Fremont, Monterey. $25 all seats. ($35 for June 24 Gala.) Performances continue through July 9. 372-2721.

Monterey Symphony Sunday, 1pm. Kate Tamarkin conducts pops concert, including Haydn''s Trumpet Concerto in E flat, on the lawn at Quail Meadows, Carmel Valley. Gates open at 11:30am. Food and beverages available from Quail Lodge (no outside food or beverages.) Free. 624-8511.