Should it stay in Vegas? Or should it be taken elsewhere as well?
Something was missing at the Las Vegas Philharmonic’s season-greeting 10th anniversary concert Saturday night at UNLV’s Artemus Ham Hall. The musicians were onstage, beginning Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero.” But where was the conductor?
A percussionist stood center stage, rattling the continuous, insistent martial cadence on a snare drum, surrounded by several musicians plucking the insistent pulse on bass and cello. One by one, more musicians walked onstage with their instruments — oboe, harp, English horn, violins and violas — taking their seats just in time to add their voices to the growing whole.
The arrival of the big bass drum, along with conductor David Itkin — there he is! — signaled the imminent climax of the piece, which arrived with a shiver of trumpets, as if the circus had just arrived in town. The audience was thrilled, rewarding the orchestra with the first of three standing, shouting ovations.
So … is this a good thing? Is it not? Is a bit of “show biz” sort of stuff something that appeals to readers or not? Just wondering!
I read it here.
