Philharmonic takes pops seriously

The Las Vegas Philharmonic Pops Orchestra played to a full house Saturday at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Artemus Ham Hall. The audience enjoyed the evening thoroughly. The orchestra appeared to as well.

Conductor David Itkin led the way through a program of film music that ranged from "The Trolley Song" and "The Boy Next Door," both from "Meet Me in St. Louis," to "Harry Potter," with emphasis on the composer who has dominated the past three decades: John Williams.

There also was a running trivia game with Itkin bringing audience members to the stage between selections to tackle, just for fun, some esoteric questions about the featured films. Questions and answers were secondary, however, to Itkin's comedic emergence with a stream of spontaneous one-liners that kept both audience and contestants laughing throughout. The game may have been slightly overdone, but still it was fun.

The orchestra played superbly. Unlike some of its counterparts elsewhere, the pops orchestra did not appear to dismiss popular music as inconsequential and play with technical accuracy but without heart. Instead, the Las Vegas Philharmonic players -- reduced by some 10 members for the pops configuration -- injected vitality and flair into the music. The accuracy was there as well. A virtually flawless performance was all the more gratifying since the literature was new to many of the players, yet they carried it off in fine fashion with only two rehearsals. Amazing!

In addition to his comedic talent, Itkin exhibited a compositional bent with a snippet of a score he composed for film. The movie, "Sugar Creek," enjoyed virtually no exposure. No doubt the music will follow. However, he once again demonstrated superlative podium skills. He is the kind of conductor players love to play for. He is at once precise, easy to follow and expressive.

Aside from Itkin and the orchestra, the star of the night was composer Williams. His music from "Star Wars," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Harry Potter" and "E.T." (a brilliant collaboration with composer/arranger John Cacavas) demonstrated his bombastic side, a somewhat unfair rap nourished by the nature of most of the extremely successful films he has scored.

That was dispelled, however, by the introspective poignancy of "Theme from Schindler's List." The reading spotlighted concertmaster Diane Letourneau in a sensitive and expressive performance of the hauntingly beautiful piece whose Hungarian modality evokes images of an entire people's oppression, suffering and resignation.

It was almost unfair to intersperse other composer/arrangers' works among Williams'. Even a medley of pieces by the great Henry Mancini seemed rather vanilla by comparison.

One might ask why so much Williams to the exclusion of such film music icons as Bernard Herrmann, Max Steiner and Alfred Newman? Answer: The audience seemed well-pleased with the more contemporary approach, and in the world of pops, that's what counts.

How could such an evening be even more enjoyable? Here's a thought: Some flowers and other splashes of color on the stage would add a more festive visual note appropriate to the pops and would help distinguish visually this series from the Philharmonic's more formal Masterworks series.

Saturday's music merits hearing in its own context, so I'm headed out now to buy a few DVDs. So should you.