A surprising night

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

— There he was again in fashionably pointed black dress shoes and trailing tuxedo tails. Paul Haas, the acclaimed New York conductor and music director for the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas was back before a packed house at the Walton Arts Center with what’s become his trademark of surprises.

It’s his playful demeanor that sets Haas apart from most colleagues: The gestures with his hands to encourage a musician, cupping his ears toward the audience when coaxing applause and his pregnant pauses between witty remarks. All in all, a visionary breath of fresh air that captures the fancy of any audience.

On this second Saturday in March, Haas wasted little time unrolling one sleeve to reveal the first surprise hiding there. With an impish grin and a snap of his fingers, the house lights dropped and the 18-member Fayetteville Jazz Collective paraded down aside aisle playing “A Closer Walk with Thee.” Filing onto the stage, they continued playing until they’d filled three rows of bleacher seats at the rear of the symphony.

The response was almost as raucous as the first symphony of the season last fall when Haas teased patrons until finally unleashing the full fury of his wind, percussion and string army in an elegant version of the University of Arkansas fight song. But on this night, the parade was only the beginning as the symphony and the jazz band each played individually and collectively for two hours and through 20 arrangements.

I was seated beside a kindly gentleman with silver hair who I initially judged as either an attorney or physician. Bingo! Dr. George Benjamin of Siloam Springs and his wife have made every concert of the season. The doctor, who recently turned 70, has been practicing family medicine for decades. He still sees patients five days a week.

Seats across the floor and balcony were filled with an audience of mostly older men and women like the doctor and his wife who grew up appreciating what I like to call artful music with graceful and rousing melodies as opposed to, say, noise and screeches. My only regret on the evening was that half the crowd wasn’t under 20 years old, so they might at least be exposed to the elegance that authentic music, created by a top-notch symphony and a jazz band can create.

Back on stage, Haas had his confident deadpan humor in high gear. That man can twist and hop and turn and whip that baton better than any conductor I’ve ever seen. After the jazz-band members had taken their seats, Haas and company launched into a velvety version of Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood.” From there the mood in the room switched to a swing serenade, then to “Dance of the Furies.” Everyone laughed when the symphony train took a mirthful turn into the theme from The Pink Panther films.

The second half began with what for years was the recognizable theme from CBS’ former Sports Spectacular program, more properly known as “Fanfare for the Common Man.”

I’m always blown away by the virtual sonic booms a kettle drum can make.

Afterwards came another hit from the postwar era, Miller’s “Moonlight Serenade.” I smiled, knowing my late mother and father danced to his music. “The Flight of the Bumblebee” united the collective and the symphony in one of the most swirling, festive and engaging versions of that piece known to man.

And so the entire evening went: Mirthful then classical, then jazz, then popular with twists and exclamation points. Haas let another surprise fly from beneath his other sleeve when he positioned a horn in a corner of the balcony as an echoing response to another from onstage.

In fact, the jazz collective’s horn section had the crowd swaying in their seats all night.

Another standout for me was Darren Novotny, whose skills on the jazz band drums would have rivaled the great Gene Krupa, for me anyway. Novotny’s abilities drew repeated (and richly earned) applause and appreciative cheers. And Fernando Valencia, well, that fella just wore out the bongo drums in steady rhythms that provided just the right tempo and beat for his collective companions.

When two hours had flown past, members of the jazz collective positioned themselves at the side of the stage for Haas’ finale surprise. They led the audience out, this time playing all the way up the aisle. And the symphony members also arose and left the stage on either side, still playing their instruments.

Filing out in the crowd that evening, everyone around me was chatting about how much fun the evening had been. “Wasn’t that something?” one man turned to ask. “Wow! Fantastic!” another answered. I just smiled and thought it’s more of what we’ve come to expect from Haas and Karen Kapella, the amiable executive director of the symphony.

Somehow I seriously doubt this conductor, upon whom the New York Times and others have heaped praise, will ever run out of big surprises hidden deep inside those tuxedo sleeves.

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Mike Masterson is opinion editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Northwest edition.

Editorial, Pages 13 on 03/13/2012