Philharmonic’s Weller just may have saved his best for last

Friday, May 4, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.

Saturday night's performance by the Las Vegas Philharmonic won't be your usual wall-rumbling, heart-pounding night at the symphony.

It will be much more.

In his last official concert with the orchestra, Hal Weller has mapped a program loaded with emotion, hidden messages, farewells, stages in life and deeply philosophical reflections.

His symphonic story begins with Wagner's "Overture to Rienzi," taken from a five-act opera by the then-young composer. For Weller, the energetic work represents youth. Its vigor once led to a broken baton for the maestro.

Strauss' "Vier Letzte Lieder" (four last songs), which will feature soprano Marina Shaguch, are gorgeous and sometimes heart-wrenching works. The tender lyrics of Herman Hesse carry the soloist through spring, autumn, sleep and sunset.

Elgar's "Enigma Variations," written as tributes to friends, long mystified those wanting to solve Elgar's puzzle, which inevitably they did. Weller is equally cryptic in presenting these 14 "whimsical and humorous" and "heartbreaking and beautiful" variations. He won't share of whom he's speaking, be it friend, colleague, mentor or acquaintance.

Weller leaves his long career knowing that he never conducted the one piece he dreamed of - Vaughan William's Symphony No. 1 in C, a transmogrification of a sea voyage turned voyage of the soul. But Saturday's performance is indeed a voyage.

Details: "Masterworks V," 8 p.m. Saturday, UNLV's Artemus Ham Hall, $27, $45, $69, 895-2787.

Looking ahead to next season

The Las Vegas Philharmonic announced its upcoming season with new conductor David Itkin and it begins with French composer Hector Berlioz, whose stylistically irregular rhythms were sampled when Itkin guest-conducted in November. In addition to Berlioz's "Roman Carnival," that Sept. 29 program will feature Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor and Brahms Symphony No. 2 in D major.

The season continues with Shostakovich, Ravel, Schubert, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Saint-Saens, Mozart, Schumann and Honneger.

Details: www.lvphil.com

Not enough flesh for the naked guy

In the irony of ironies, Greg Friedler of "Naked Los Angeles" and "Naked New York" fame, hasn't found enough naked people for his upcoming "Naked Las Vegas" book. The New Orleans-born photographer, known for his raw and telling portraits, began his Naked series while a graduate student in New York City in the mid-1990s. The black-and-white photographs feature a clothed adult in one image, the same person, only naked, in the next. This is no beauty contest. He shoots all shapes and sizes, ages and personalities. Among his subjects are a legal adviser, nanny, teacher, opera singer, civil servant and student. "Naked London," published in 2000, is his most recent. Friedler was in town last week scoping out potential studios. He'll return later this year to do the shooting. Unfortunately, he says, he has only 50 models signed on. He needs 200.

Details: www.gregfriedler.com