Classic Zeppelin; classical experience

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Thursday, March 27, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Whether you’ll enjoy this weekend’s concert celebrating the music of one of the greatest rock bands is a matter of whether you can separate the music of Led Zeppelin from the band.

It’s tricky. Someone else singing “Black Dog” or “Immigrant Song” might seem blasphemous, sad or a lot like a Disney on Ice performance of Hamlet’s soliloquy.

But it’s about personal taste. And if people really had a problem with “The Music of Led Zeppelin: A Rock Symphony,” the show would play to empty halls, orchestras wouldn’t return the producer’s calls and Zeppelin fans would protest.

Instead, the more than two-hour production, which pairs a studio rock band and vocalist with a full orchestra, is touring the country and rocking auditoriums, complete with elaborate light shows and smoke effects.

On Saturday “The Music of Led Zeppelin,” featuring vocalist Randy Jackson (from Zebra) and the Las Vegas Philharmonic, will be at Planet Hollywood.

Expect to hear “Immigrant Song,” “Kashmir” and “Stairway to Heaven” during the 18-song set. Moreover, says arranger and conductor Brent Havens, expect a rock show. Havens started the project in the mid-1990s when a promoter of an orchestra in Virginia was seeking ways to bring new audiences to the symphony and decided classic rock was one way.

Havens didn’t think a symphonic-only concert of Led Zeppelin music would draw the band’s fans. Nor did he think classical music fans would want to hear the music of Led Zeppelin. So he melded the two by including the band and a vocalist with the orchestra.

The musicians, who include electronic violinist Allegra, have since performed more than 100 shows, with a different orchestra each time. Reviews have been mixed, but it’s not because of a lack of talent. Some just aren’t ready to digest the sound of a symphony performing “In the Evening.”

One thing Havens stresses: “We’re not a tribute band. We’re not a cover band.”

In arranging the music for “The Music of Led Zeppelin,” Havens says he wanted to stay close to each note of the original, even in the guitar solos.

“I didn’t want to reinterpret the music,” he says. “I wanted to enhance the music with the orchestra. People who love this music really, really love this music and they don’t want anybody messing with it.”

Sometimes he has violins performing with the guitars. Sometimes French horns are playing counterpoint. Sometimes they’re matching the singer.

Havens, who has written music for orchestras, films and TV, says he was intrigued by Led Zeppelin’s accessible, intricate music with complex rhythms, harmonies and polychords.

Havens is also the arranger of “The Music of the Doors,” “The Music of Pink Floyd” and “The Music of the Eagles.”

“Next year,” he says, “we’re starting ‘The Music of Queen.’ ”