Jetsetters Magazine Connoisseur Soiree #4 in Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com

Now I know why so many Las Vegas homes are so large: the owners want to host a Soirée event!

Johann Sebastian Bach was back in Vegas.

It seems word gets around. The Cartier Connoisseur Soirée series of performances in private homes has been a great success since its inception. Presented by the Las Vegas Philharmonic, these intimate recitals (along with the Jaguar raffle) raise funds for the Philharmonic's larger performances each season. This fourth and final Soirée of the 2002-2003 season was held in the elegant home of Richard and Vicki Scott near Lake Las Vegas. As we took our seats in the spacious living room, I realized that the Scotts' grand piano would go unused this evening. Our musical guest, Zuill Bailey, would be performing solo on an instrument whose warm, rich sound was well-suited to the venue.

And what an instrument! Zuill plays a cello that was built in 1693 by Italian craftsman Matteo Goffriller. I'd be afraid to touch such a prize, but it certainly serves the world better in the hands of an artist than in some museum. Bailey also explained to us that playing this work of art and history provides him a solemn, almost religious experience that helps him to "get centered" amid the confusion of the modern world. Zuill's debut CD is available at his web site, www.zuillbailey.com.

Speaking of solemn experiences, Philharmonic Executive Director Philip Koslow not only introduced our guest but also announced that the Second Gulf War had just begun. We observed a moment of silence in honor of those in harm's way, and the event took on an added sense of poignancy as the first notes from Zuill's cello reached our ears.


	You'll Like Zuill's classic cello performances.

I can't say I've heard much solo cello on the radio, but the opening strains of this piece were instantly recognizable. Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Suite No. 1 in G Major' begins with a prelude that sounds elegant and stately despite its quick eighth-note phrases. The 'Allemande' movement was equally serene but was followed by 'Courante', a livelier section that showed Zuill's agility with rapid successions of sixteenth notes. It's always impressive to see fingers moving so quickly and precisely. I'm not even a very good typist. Moreover, a cello's neck has no frets like a guitar, so finger position has to be right on or the notes are off-key. The musician finds the same exact position for each note through talent and training. 'Sarabande' gave us long, sweet notes and some two-note chords. Cellos, being much lower in pitch than violins, don't play a lot of chords, so their sound is more "sparse" despite their richness. I spent the evening wondering whether I would have preferred a piano accompaniment. The jury's still out on that one. Two "Minuet" movements followed, though they seemed a bit slow for the dance pieces that they usually are. The piece ended with a quick, brief movement called 'Gigue'.

After the applause died down, Zuill explained to us that not a lot of solo music was produced for his chosen instrument until Pablo Casals "put the cello on the map" in the twentieth century. Many works are transcribed for cello after having been written for another instrument. Such was the next piece, Sergei Prokofiev's 'March for Children'. It was easy to tell that this short piece was originally composed for piano, with its sharp, staccato chords. I can't say it sounded quite natural for cello, but it had a playful sound that must be as appealing to little kids today as it was when it was first written.

Zuill plays Paganini, Bach, Silva, Gluck, Vieuxtemps, and more!

A "freak show" in classical music? This is how Zuill described Nicolò Paganini, with his awkward, almost grotesque features and avant-garde musical style. Paganini's use of strange musical "special effects" occasionally got him arrested after performances! Zuill played a transcription of a short piece Paganini composed in jail to mock the guards. The composer's violin had only one unbroken string, so he wrote the tune to be played that way. Transcribed for cello by Luigi Silva, the song contained some very high, squeaky notes that did sound quite sarcastic and farcical. Playing on one string required more rapid fingering, but Zuill handled it masterfully, right up through the rather wild ending.

The cello, according to our guest, is a "comfortable" instrument to play. Cradled against the musician's chest, "It warms you," he said. It radiated that warmth throughout the room as well.

'Melody', a short piece by Christoph Willibald Glück, was aptly named. This very free-form piece had a lovely, melancholy sound. Then, to lighten the mood, Zuill treated us to a piece by Henri Vieuxtemps called 'Souvenir of America', with which Vieuxtemps reportedly ended all his U.S. concerts. Aha - variations on a theme of 'Yankee Doodle'! This energetic tune featured frenetic "sawing" (sorry, that's what it reminded me of), some very clever plucking of the strings, and more high, squeaky notes as the familiar melody went round and round. This was to be a very appropriate ending to the performance, and to this year's Soirée series (it had been performed on violin and piano at the first Soirée). However, when the enthusiastic audience demanded an encore, we got a surprise.

What won't they transcribe for cello? If I thought Zuill's fingers were fast and precise before, I hadn't seen anything. He told us he had heard this piece played on a tuba at the Interlochen School in Michigan, and he took us on a frantic musical buzz through a Russian meadow. 'Flight of the Bumblebee' - for tuba? Crazy musicians. This picturesque piece by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is a small bundle of fun and nervous energy, even on a cello. What a treat!

As dessert was being served, the Scotts turned on the room's television so we could learn the news. It's rather surreal to see war on the other side of the globe in real time, but experiencing it here reminded me that whenever there's trouble in the world, it is a great comfort to be surrounded by friends. That is what the Soirée events are all about.

— Reviewed March 19, 2003 by Robert LaGrone, Las Vegas Jetsetters Magazine Entertainment Editor.