A pitch-perfect matchup

Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall and Brian Wilson’s “Smile” album were made for each other. Both had problems getting off the ground, so to speak, and were long delayed in completion. And both are controversial, polarizing works, undeniably unique and unmistakably stamped with their makers’ signatures.

Wilson’s music fit like a gem in Gehry’s intimate space Tuesday, as the musician brought his “lost masterpiece” back to the city where he shelved it almost 40 years ago, and then rerecorded it this year.

Back in the mid-’60s, the Beach Boys’ leader was engaged in a heady race with the Beatles to take pop music to new dimensions, and “Smile” was intended to change the game forever with its ambition and vision. But he never finished it as he fell victim to emotional problems that kept him sidelined for decades.

His relatively recent return to health and musical action has been inspiring, and the revival of “Smile” has added a new interest to the saga. Released by Nonesuch in September and played in concert by Wilson and his band on a tour that brought the work home to L.A. this week, this pop symphony is as rich and ambitious as advertised, packed with the choral and harmonic brilliance Wilson derived from such sources as George Gershwin and the Four Freshmen.

Van Dyke Parks’ abstract and enigmatic lyrics trace an America-spanning journey, and themes of childlike innocence weave into the narrative.

Like the pun-filled words, the music is often playful and whimsical, with Spike Jones whistles and, on one song, the sound of tools at work. (Wilson’s contribution Tuesday was a workout with a battery-powered drill.)

Wilson, with his full 10-piece band and added strings and horns, devoted the second hour of the concert to the complete work, and its sound in Disney Hall was richer and warmer than it is on the album, where its tone is sometimes overly brittle.

While “Smile” was undeniably grand and absorbing, it didn’t overwhelmingly seal the debate over what his real masterpiece is.

Some still go with “Pet Sounds,” the album that preceded “Smile,” and his sublime rendition of its hit “God Only Knows” during the evening’s first hour was given an unusually intense and sustained standing ovation.

And in these days of back-to-basics rock, you can also make a case for a couple of the oldest songs he played, “I Get Around” and “Do It Again,” as perfect pop distillations of the suburban teenage soul. If nothing else, they unfailingly made you smile.