The combination of a symphony orchestra and a rock ‘n’ roll cover act might sound like the stuff of film scores or tiresome reunion concerts. But one outfit has brought 1970s arena anthems to stunning life for nearly a decade.
Call it classical rock.
The Music of Led Zeppelin, a traveling rock quintet led by conductor Brent Havens and singer Randy Jackson, visits about 25 cities a year, taking over the local orchestra for a few nights of Bic-raising, headbanging fun.
The outfit hits Boettcher Hall to perform the songs of Led Zeppelin on Friday and Pink Floyd on Saturday.
Here’s how it works: Havens leads the host city’s orchestra through renditions of ’70s radio hits while Jackson’s seasoned session players try to re-create the experience of hearing Robert Plant or Roger Waters onstage. Odd bedfellows, perhaps, but classically trained musicians can be unexpectedly compatible with rock ‘n’ roll.
“Most of these orchestras are established, world-class outfits,” Havens said. “You could pretty much put anything in front of them and they’ll play it without a lot of difficulty, especially the rock stuff.”
Forget the buttoned-down reputation you might associate with symphonies. Many of their members were raised on rock and are rabid fans, said Rachel Segal, a violinist with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.
“You can look around the orchestra and tell who knows them (the rock bands) and who doesn’t,” she said.
Segal, who has played violin with Queensryche and Art Garfunkel, remembers how much fun she had playing with The Music of Led Zeppelin during their last Denver visit.
“This week was supposed to be my vacation, but I decided not to take it because of this show,” Segal, 29, said. “They’re a really good band, and they sound just like the records.”
Getting the songs to that point was no small feat. Havens had to transcribe them note-for-note from the original recordings. Then there was the mammoth task of whittling down the bands’ list of hits.
“I lurked online in Zeppelin newsgroups for probably three or four weeks looking at folks’ top 10 lists,” Havens said. “I included certain tunes that I knew we had to play, like ‘Kashmir’ or ‘Stairway to Heaven.’ But there’s always somebody that comes up after (a show) and says, ‘I can’t believe you didn’t do this song!’
“These repertoires are so massive, and we only have two hours to play.”
After test runs with a few lead singers, Havens picked Jackson – the “window between the audience and the reworked material” – as the vocalist. Jackson’s hard-rock band Zebra enjoyed minor fame in the ’80s when its self-titled debut went gold. No shock here: Critics often compared it to Led Zeppelin.
“I guess it’s ironic on some level,” Jackson said, “but I’m having a great time doing it.”
Jackson noted the show’s ability to attract to the symphony people who wouldn’t normally listen to classical music. A recent survey of audience members commissioned by the show’s organizers backed him up.
“One of the questions is, ‘How many symphony shows have you been to in the last year?’ ” he said. “It’s surprising how many people have never even attended a single symphony show in their lives.”
CSO’s Segal thinks young people will also appreciate how adventurous the songs sound, a product of a bygone era where pop musicians allowed themselves to be influenced by classical forms.
“So much of the music in the ’60s and ’70s was progressive in that there was a lot of crossover,” she said. “I don’t think that’s the case with a lot of today’s artists. They kind of sound the same with or without an orchestra.”
The Music of Led Zeppelin hasn’t heard what band founders Robert Plant or Jimmy Page think of it, but Led Zeppelin’s record label sometimes sends CDs and DVDs to sell at its shows.
“We try to reproduce the sound as closely as we can, then wrap the orchestra around that sound so people are getting an authentic experience,” Havens said.
With a growing number of sold-out shows nationally, Havens knows the demand is there. Despite steadily adding a handful of new dates every year, he can’t imagine getting tired of playing songs like “Black Dog” nearly 30 times a year.
“We change it up, even if we go back to the same cities year after year,” Havens said. “The complexity of the pieces keeps them from getting stale.”
Segal thinks the approach to covering such a respected band’s work is just right: Go for the sound, not the image.
“We did a show with a Beatles cover band once, but they did the costumes and all that,” she said. “I think this one’s going to be a lot better.”
Coming from a classical musician, one of those guardians of tradition, what better compliment could you want?
Staff writer John Wenzel can be reached at 303-820-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com.
