"It's something I've looked forward to for a long time," Elton said. "We haven't done it in a while. I love touring with him. I have the greatest respect for him. We're both such good friends. It's two people for the price of one. Our ticket prices are the same as you'd see anyone else, but there's two of us. In this day and age, we hope to be getting people value for their money."

As part of the warm-up for the tour, Joel has set up some solo dates - at the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida, in January 2009, and a St. Valentine's Day 2009 show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tickets for those shows are now on sale through TicketMaster. Joel, who says he has been practicing John's songs again to get ready for the tour, is currently in the middle of his tour of Asia and Australia, set for Hong Kong tomorrow night.

"Elegy: The Great Peconic," the six-minute (and change) orchestral work was composed as a tribute to the baymen of Peconic Bay as they struggled with declining oyster and clam yields.

Billy Joel? Classical?

WHAAA? As fans know, he was classically trained, and, as really dedicated fans know, he produced (and continues to work on) a series of orchestral works collectively known as "The Scrimshaw Pieces," reflecting their nautical themes, of which this is one.

In the late '90s, "The Great Peconic" was included, along with a handful of works from other composers, in an album titled "Music of Hope," performed by the London Symphony and the New York Philharmonic. Joel told Newsday at the time: "I like melodic, romantic Brahms. I love Beethoven. I love Schumann. I love Schubert and Rachmaninoff. ... I've always defined myself as a composer and writer more than I have as a pop star. Anybody can be a pop star. KISS is a pop star."

So How Is The Piece?

Is it any good? In fact, yes. The London Symphony recording evokes English romantic impressionists like Frederick Delius or Ralph Vaughan Williams (John Barry, too), and like them, employs a recurring tune that begins and closes the piece.

What's New With This Rendition?

Says musical director David Wiley: "Joel and I got together and have made some changes [to the original]. As it represents the Long Island fishing industry, there's a moment of dissonance that [is] resolved later in the piece, and we've added other elements, including a kind of Irish jig that comes in."

What Else To Expect

The two shows open with Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5 In C Minor" and close with the Tchaikovsky "Violin Concerto In D Major"; David Kim, the renowned violinist and concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, is soloist.

Will Billy Joel Be There?

Unlikely. He's on tour in Asia and is scheduled to play in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday.

The Long Island Philharmonic

When/Where 8:00pm Saturday at The Staller Center: Stony Brook University, and 7:30pm. Sunday at Tilles Center: CW Post campus of Long Island University, Brookville.