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Inon Barnatan Photo: Marco Borggreve

November 21, 2015 Two contrasting works — one melancholy, one hot-headed — by Jean Sibelius flanked Beethoven’s athletic Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor,” on a handsomely played concert by the San Antonio Symphony under music director Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Nov. 20 in the Tobin Center. Soloist in the concerto was the Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan. Sibelius, of course, was the composer who virtually created Finland’s distinctive cultural identity late in the 19th century, years before Finland existed as an independent nation. His music sometimes reflected the bleakness of Finland’s dark winters, or the austerity of a hardscrabble way of life, but it also could reflect the emerging national pride with boisterous muscularity, often expressed in the angular rat-a-tat rhythms of Finnish speech. The Swan of Tuonela (1895) represents the first tendency. Tuonela  is the island of the dead — the underworld described by the Finnish national myth, the Kalevala. Set against shimmering strings, the English horn spins the swan’s long, ruminative melody — certainly one of the greatest showcases for that instrument in the orchestral literature. Jennifer Berg was a splendid protagonist, especially in her limpid high register, and principal cellist Ken Freudigman lent gorgeous support. The whole was shaped with a sinuous ebb and flow by Mr. Lang-Lessing, and the strings produced a transparent, finely balanced sound.  The extrovert side of Sibelius is well represented by the First Symphony (1899). Apart from the serene second movement and the mournful clarinet melody that introduces the first, this music is largely explosive, brilliant and overflowing with testosterone — qualities that were mitigated by Mr. Lang-Lessing’s uncharacteristically slow tempi (though not far from the composer’s metronome markings) in this performance. The rhythms were missing some bite, too — native Finnish speakers do seem to have an advantage in this music. In other respects the performance was well made, cogent and carefully detailed.   Beethoven’s last piano concerto, composed in 1809, is perhaps best known for the swaggering grandeur of its opening allegro and final rondo, but Mr. Barnatan’s performance was most memorable for the introspection of the central adagio. At the piano’s entrance, with a descending line of eighth-note triplets, Mr. Barnatan gave each note its own distinct weight and purpose while maintaining the integrity of the statement as a whole. At the end of the movement, he took an uncommonly deliberative approach to the solo transition to the rondo. Throughout, Mr. Barnatan’s clear tone, spirited musicality and sense of direction were a pleasure to hear. He did not produce thunderous power, but quite enough to make the point.  Mr. Lang-Lessing and the orchestra opened the concert with the French and American national anthems, in recognition of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris. And wasn’t that symphony president David Gross playing the bass drum in both anthems?  Mike Greenberg

Jean Sibelius in 1891

Jennifer Berg

San Antonio Symphony, Lang-Lessing, Barnatan

Sibelius, tender and tough

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