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No showgirls. No comedy act. No flashing lights. Am I still in Las Vegas?
Traditionally, the difference between Las Vegas and yogurt has been that the latter has an active culture - but not these days. The Las Vegas Philharmonic (www.lvphil.com) has opened its fourth season, and our city also has ballet and opera companies. Who needs gambling?
Las Vegas has to be the most uniquely American city in the country, so it was quite appropriate for the Phil to open its 2002-2003 season with a program of American music from composers Howard Hanson, Samuel Barber, Michael Torke, and my favorite, Aaron Copland. The Copland selections were his orchestral arrangements of several "Old American Songs" - and for these, they needed a really good guest vocalist.
 Kevin Deas had just flown in from a performance in New York on Thursday, but he graciously instructed a master's class at the Las Vegas Academy with the Phil's conductor, hearing three gutsy vocal performances by young local music students and offering them some professional-level tips on enhancing their style and impact on stage. (These amazing students were well beyond needing intermediate-level instruction. Am I still in Las Vegas?) Deas was resting his own bass-baritone voice for later, but we got little tastes of his sound as he worked with the young singers. Deas is noted for his performance as "Porgy" in the Bobby McFerrin revival of Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess."
Premiering at the Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall on the UNLV campus, Deas sang the Shaker tune 'Simple Gifts' and other Copland-arranged classics, including a wonderfully whimsical rendering of 'I Bought Me a Cat.' A rousing ovation brought him back out for a surprise encore, a tribute to the late William Warfield, in which Deas brought the house down with Warfield's signature tune, 'Ol' Man River'. He had barely completed the song's powerful closing note when the folding theater seats flipped closed throughout the hall.
The show had opened with another bit of American music: the National Anthem. This was a nice touch, and I discovered that Kevin Deas wasn't the only good singer in the joint; the man standing next to me had a nice voice as well. (Hopefully this prevented anyone's hearing my own voice as I sang along.) The first music actually on the evening's program was 'Javelin', by Milwaukee-born Michael Torke. This piece had been commissioned for the opening ceremony of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, and its colorful melodies and driving rhythms ranged from lively to powerful to inspiring. It sounded tricky to play, but the Phil handled it masterfully.
 The conductor and music director, Harold Weller, founded the Las Vegas Philharmonic four years ago after great success with the Flagstaff Symphony in Arizona. I was surprised at the large size of our own orchestra, and Maestro Weller surprised me further with the news that the Phil had started its very first season at that size. Such early enthusiasm is a testament both to his reputation (he had served here previously as Music Director of the Nevada Dance Theater and Visiting Professor of Music at UNLV), and to our city's growing interest in the arts and culture.
After intermission, the Phil's large string section performed Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings (which you may remember from Oliver Stone's laconic Vietnam war film, "Platoon"). Barber based the Adagio on the ancient Roman poet Virgil's prose of "Georgics." An adagio is a slow piece of music, normally with a leisurely sound, but Barber's adagio is no stroll in the park. Its hauntingly, despairingly beautiful strains always make me picture tear-streaked faces of mourners at the funerals of Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy (where the Adagio was played) as a shocked, scared nation faced an uncertain future. An orchestra needs to be rock-steady to handle the Adagio, and this one did it flawlessly. If you listen to KNPR or other classical radio, you probably know this piece. If not, the record stores are open, and your car keys are in the kitchen drawer. Get moving.
The evening's closing act was Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2, 'Romantic', from the 1930s. Okay, there was a bit of a comedy act: we laughed as Maestro Weller explained to the audience that he had met Hanson in 1955 at the Interlochen School, where the famous composer lividly denounced the new singing sensation Elvis Presley as a curse upon the land. Hanson's three-movement symphony opens with an unsettled, brooding introduction but soon moves into a melodic theme that cascades like Bridal Veil Falls and reappears in varying forms throughout the piece.
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De Ann Letourneau appears in "The Stunning Romantics," November 16, with the Las Vegas Philharmonic.
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French horns are a particular favorite of mine, and they are featured marvelously in this symphony. The final movement weaves the recurring theme into a recapitulation of all the symphony's highlights as it builds into a final crescendo and a sharp, definitive ending. Hanson's Fourth Symphony received the Pulitzer prize, but the Second is a piece I hadn't heard before. I am now searching for my own car keys.
The entire performance was wonderfully done and very well received by an appreciative audience. The only regrettable aspect was the acoustic quality of the Artemus W. Ham concert hall. Somehow the sound didn't seem as "bright" as it should, and at times even Kevin Deas' rich, deep voice didn't carry well above the surrounding music - even with a microphone for a bit of added amplification. Oddly, though, I had no trouble hearing the occasional cough from distant corners of the audience with perfect clarity. I thought it might have been my imagination until after the show, when a man with a more trained ear than mine made similar comments about the acoustics. I hope the people at UNLV are looking into this problem; Ham Hall is quite spacious, and the Las Vegas Philharmonic will need such a large venue as its success grows.
The Las Vegas Philharmonic
1289 S. Torrey Pines Dr.
Las Vegas, NV 89146
702.258.5438
lvphil@anv.net
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Now, if I can only win the Las Vegas Philharmonic's raffle for the new Jaguar, then I can listen to that Adagio in classic style. After the show, I was invited to attend the opening night's reception, sponsored by Lalique, and I was delighted to hear that it would be held in the outside courtyard on this perfect autumn evening instead of in the large lobby of the hall. Then I learned why: it seemed the powers that be were worried that we might spill our champagne all over the carpet!
Well, maybe I am still in Las Vegas.
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By Robert LaGrone, Las Vegas Jetsetters Magazine Entertainment Correspondent.
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