Las Vegas Philharmonic Premier at Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com

Just as the erotic new Las Vegas show "Zumanity" is billed as "Another side of Cirque du Soleil," the season premiere of the Las Vegas Philharmonic could be called "Another side of American music." Don't worry - there was no nudity at tonight's gala performance; I'm speaking of the musical theme. The orchestra performed works by Schuman, Barber, and Dvorak, and the mood wasn't exactly perky piccolo solos, bombastic march music, and New England Yankees. If you didn't think American orchestral music was serious, this concert would change your mind.

Well, okay, there was a little bombast. Hey, we're Americans, so what'd you expect? Conductor and Music Director Hal Weller opened the Philharmonic's fifth season with the national anthem, and the nearly full house of music lovers got to warm up its vocal chords.

Chairman/President Richard Plaster greeted the audience and thanked us for the Philharmonic's ongoing success. I got the impression that not many large orchestras operate in the black - despite the fact that they aren't government organizations.

	William Schuman's "New England Triptych" was performed at the premier.

Oh - I guess New England Yankees made an appearance after all. William Schuman's "New England Triptych" opened with a dark, brooding intro that set the tone for the entire evening. A triptych is an ancient writing tablet of three leaves hinged together. The three movements of this piece featured complex, slightly dissonant string passages, dramatic use of timpani drums, and powerful horns. Schuman's piece will never be referred to as a "ditty" - this is serious stuff, worthy of the respect of Europe's finest composers. Oddly, Schuman (born in 1910) was a huge baseball fan and played the banjo. He might be seen today as the quintessential American if he had refrained from using weird, difficult words like "Triptych."

After Schuman's second movement trailed off with graceful strains on the strings, a very short third movement jumped in with a lively piccolo solo (darn - I'm zero for three, aren't I?). The movement varied greatly in tempo and intensity, ending big and loud. The overall mood was serious - honest! - but "big and loud" certainly is American.

Samuel Barber's somber passages were represented.

Guest pianist David Korevaar was featured in the evening's second piece, Samuel Barber's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 38. It opened with dramatic solo play by Korevaar, who would later show marvelous finesse on the keys but was all volume and intensity in the first few passages. In the somber second movement, played "Adagio," or calmly, hints of Barber's stunning "Adagio for Strings" could be heard - or perhaps felt, as both are very emotive pieces. The third movement was rhythmic and choppy, like Aaron Copland's "Subway Jam." Korevaar's playing was so quick and complex that I wondered what the sheet music in front of him must have looked like.

The LVPhil's Season Roster -

In its second concert performance of this season "From the Heart of Europe", the Las Vegas Philharmonic will be joined by Stefan Milenkovich and Ani Aznivoorian in Johannes Brahms' extraordinary "Concerto for Violin & Cello in A Minor" on Saturday, November 15, 2003 at 8:00 p.m. in Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall. The program will also feature Felix Mendelssohn's "Midsummernight's Dream: Incidental Music" and Paul Hindemith's "Concert for Strings and Brass".

Holiday Celebration concerts on Saturday, December 13, 2003 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, December 14, 2003 at 2:00 p.m. in Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall have become the city's premier event of the holiday season. These marvelous performances, filled with beautiful yuletide sights and sounds, promise to invoke the holiday spirit. The Philharmonic is joined by the Las Vegas Master Singers in this holiday celebration.

"Northern Exposures" will be the Philharmonic's fourth concert in the Classical Series on Saturday, February 28, 2004 at 8:00 p.m. in the Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall. Guest Artist Corey Cerovsek will join in the performance of Max Burch's Scottish "Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra Op. 46". The program will also feature Benjamin Britten's Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes and Jean Sibelius' "Symphony No. 2 in D Major".

In an additional performance this Season on Saturday, March 20, 2004 at 8:00 p.m. in the Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall, the Las Vegas Philharmonic Chorus will present its debut performance in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem, K. 626. The newly formed Las Vegas's Philharmonic Chorus will be under the direction of Kim Barclay Drusedum.

The Season Finale for the Las Vegas Philharmonic will showcase pianist Valentina Lisitsa in a performance of Sergei Rachmanioff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43" on Saturday, May 8, 2004 at 8:00 p.m. in the Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall. The Philharmonic, under the direction of Harold Weller, will also perform Sergei Taneyev's "Oresteia Overture, Op. 6" and Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Symphony No. 4 in F Minor".

To me, piano concerti often sound like battles for dominance between the piano and the rest of the orchestra. My scorecard tonight: Korevaar won for sheer brilliance and virtuosity with his gymnastic play, but the orchestra won the beauty contest with its pretty flute and oboe solos over graceful strings. I will say that they tied when it came to volume and "time of possession" (sorry about the sports analogy), and that balance is a good thing in a concerto.

Great music often evokes mental images, and Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, "From the New World," is truly great music. The problem is the mental image I get from it. As a child, I must have seen a television documentary about World War II in Europe with this symphony as its soundtrack. In the sharp, intense first movement, I picture Allied troops and jeeps moving determinedly through the forests of the Low Countries, and in the beautiful but mournful second movement I see German civilians picking pitifully among the rubble of their ruined homes. Hopefully you'll have better luck picturing American landscapes. I had no idea that too much television could be so harmful!

Okay, I found one bit of American sound in the lively third movement, with a bit of a Copland-esque Western feel to it. Then it goes European again with a wind melody over string eighth notes, like something right out of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's elegant "Swan Lake" suite. In the fourth movement, Dvorak ingeniously weaves the dominant themes from earlier sections back in as the intensity grows. If you've heard the battle scene from Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" (and who hasn't?), you'll recognize the style. After a huge climax, the symphony ends with a surprisingly soft, serene string chord - and, of course, a big standing ovation by the audience. There's a reason this piece was saved for last.

It's hard to describe what American music sounds like. Some, like that of Aaron Copland, is so clearly American that you can smell the apple pie. Then there are visitors like Dvorak, who record their impressions of our nation, like the author Alexis de Tocqueville, from a foreigner's perspective and bring that sound with them. Other works, like those of Barber and Schuman, perhaps sound American only in that they don't sound like music from any other particular country. That's appropriate, I suppose, since we are after all a blend of people from other places. Heck, that's the spirit of America. Apple pie, anyone?

— By Rob LaGrone, Las Vegas Jetsetters Magazine Entertainment Editor.