Although Sir Edward Elgar composed his Cello Concerto in E Minor around same time as Holst wrote most of The Planets, Elgar’s piece reflects more earthly matters — namely, horror of Great War that had just ended. Appropriately, Philharmonic’s guest soloist for this piece was expressive virtuoso Daniel Gaisford, who sat directly facing audience to present drama of this concerto.

Until twentieth century, European wars were largely affairs of honor in which small royal armies did battle far from cities. A few soldiers were lost on each side, and public rooted for their sides like distant soccer teams. World War I, with its industrial-strength killing machines, changed everything and gave continent a sense of lost innocence. Elgar’s concerto is a lament for a bygone age, filled with sad, sweet passages throughout its three movements. Even final “allegro” section is utterly devoid of optimism we heard in Walton’s overture.

Read this entire feature free with photos at: http://www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/classic/vegas04/sphere/sphere.html

- By Robert LaGrone, Las Vegas Entertainment Editor. Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com

Actually, I’m not truly sure why I’ve bothered writing this. I’ve no new insight to offer on matter, I simply needed to vent. I loved Star Trek and Rick Berman hates me. Barring Star Trek, some other good space adventures sure would be nice. WB killed Babylon 5 movie, so forget about that. Without Tom Cruise on board or his lower level equivalent they don’t want to risk it. Imagine if that attitude had been taken when idea for Star Trek: The Motion Picture was presented. It’s ridiculous that a B5 movie based on a successful franchise with hordes of fans, cannot get made using original cast when in a few months a movie based on a cancelled TV show will be. I suppose my only hope now is Firefly… but let’s get realistic. No matter how good that movie is, it’ll never make back it’s budget and it isn’t going to revitalize space-sci-fi genre. It needs a Lord of Rings to bring it back or a Star Wars that doesn’t feel like a toy line advertisement. Either of those things happening is a long shot, so I guess I’d better hit bookstore and cozy up with some Heinlein. Maybe when this superhero craze burns out there’ll be room for movies to return to outer space.