HE HARMONIZES LIVING, WORKING

Whenever Simon Rattle talks about music, his expressive eyes widen in enthusiasm, and it’s all he can do to remain seated.

You might think this boyish-looking conductor would be miserable away from the podium for any length of time. You would be wrong.

The curly-haired Briton is certainly devoted to his art. But he’s more devoted to his family: to his wife, the American soprano Elise Ross, and his son Alexander (Sasha), now 3. So devoted, in fact, that last year the busy conductor cleaned his calendar of all guest appearances--including those with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he serves as principal guest conductor.

“I elected to stay home while Sasha was 2,” he explains with no air of martyrdom. It is clear, during the course of a visit at the Music Center, that the 32-year-old musician gets a kick out of being a dad.

Two weeks of concerts with the Philharmonic, begining tonight, have brought him back after a two-year absence. On this occasion, he decided to bring his son. The first order of business here was a full day at Disneyland.

“I have known so many musicians who have teen-agers at home. And they don’t know them. I have had to reconcile living with working.”

Philharmonic management, he notes, was supportive of his decision to restructure his priorities for a season. “I was willing to come back as an ordinary guest conductor, but they wanted me to keep my title. I’ve been fortunate in Los Angeles. We’ve had a good relationship from the start. There’s no B.S. with the musicians.

“Basically, I don’t do well as a guest conductor. I have to know the players. I’ve found that the music-making gets significantly better after the initial mistrust is gone.”

It’s not surprising that a man who demonstrates fierce loyalty to his family--he spent much of his stay-at-home year caring for his ailing wife--would show similar feelings about his work. Rather than adopt the life of a jet-setting maestro, Rattle has chosen to spend a full six months each year with the City of Birmingham Symphony, where he is principal conductor and artistic adviser. “Andre (Previn) says that you can only devote yourself to one orchestra, and I believe that’s true.

“It seems the whole music business has become geared to jet hopping, to building international careers. But what has ‘career’ got to do with music? I don’t know how these conductors do it--all that traveling and no rehearsal time.”

During his sabbatical from guest conducting, Rattle nonetheless maintained a full schedule. Birmingham, he says, “enables me not to look for work.”

Thus, he’s had the luxury of turning down or seriously debating offers from such illustrious groups as the Berlin Philharmonic: “I’m supposed to go there in November. I want to do the Mahler Tenth (Symphony), but they told me the music wasn’t good enough. Can you believe such snobbery? We’re working on it. If I can’t do the Mahler, I won’t go.”

Another luxury for a house-bound Rattle is the proximity of London and its thriving musical life. The city is very close, he notes: “It’s only an hour and a half away. That’s as far as some people in Los Angeles will go for good sushi.”

Even though he views his post here as more titular than administrative, Rattle kept in touch with the Philharmonic “from a distance” in 1986. The position “gives the players a sense of continuity. They know I’ll be around. That was the reason we were originally named.” The “we” refers to the tandem of Rattle and Michael Tilson Thomas, selected in 1981 during the tenure of Carlo Maria Giulini.

The subject of Tilson Thomas’ departure when Previn succeeded Giulini was brushed aside by Rattle: “We had met, of course,” he says of Tilson Thomas, “but we never really worked together.” Of his own decision to remain with the orchestra, he adds, “I never thought of breaking our relationship.

“Right now, it feels like I’m back home. I don’t need a title to keep me coming back.”