Strauss, Schastakovitch Masterfully Performed by Israeli-Born Pianist Inon Barnatan

By Eileen Wingard

SAN DIEGO — The December 8 San Diego Symphony Orchestra’s high voltage program under the direction of SDSO Music Director, Raphael Payare, took off with the dazzling opening of Richard Strauss’ tone poem, Don Juan. The gifted Israeli-born pianist, Inon Barnatan played two Shostakovitch Concertos, No. 2, before the intermission and No. 1, with trumpet and strings, after the intermission, and the program concluded with Strauss’ satirical tone poem, Til Eulenspiegel.

Barnatan is one of the most admired pianists and versatile musicians on the concert stage today, winning prizes and critical acclaim for his “uncommon sensitivity” (The New Yorker), and “impeccable musicality and phrasing” (Le Figaro). He is also the director of our highly acclaimed music festival, the La Jolla Music Society’s Summerfest, where he shares his talents as curator, soloist, chamber music collaborator and coach.

Barnatan lit into Schostakovitch’s Concerto #2’s galloping opening theme, displaying uncanny virtuosity and precise technique. It had a long cadenza passage prior to the climax. The second movement was like a Nocturn, introduced by muted strings, with the piano entering with a Russian-like melody, subdued and expressive, a welcome repose from the high intensity surrounding movements. The third movement had rapid scale sections, reminiscent of Hanon Etudes, which all pianists practice, and scampered to a close. This concerto was written by Schostakovitch as a birthday present for his 19-year-old son, Maxim, when he graduated from the Conservatory.

The Concerto #1 was written when Schostakovitch was 27 years old.  It was originally intended as a trumpet concerto, but when he realized the more limited range of the trumpet, he wrote it as a piano concerto with trumpet and strings.

The first movement opens with a lyrical theme that spans a large range while the second theme was characterized by percussive repeated notes. The trumpet added its calls. The second movement was a slow waltz, soon giving way to a passionate fast middle section, then returning to the waltz, with the muted trumpet having the final say.

A Moderato section preceded the fourth movement which is a perpetual motion requiring virtuosic keyboard playing and trumpet fanfares, rising to an exciting end.

Paul Merkelo, principal trumpet with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and hailed as “a spectacular soloist” (Montreal Gazette), played the trumpet solos with lyrical beauty and focused precision. He shared a well-deserved standing ovation with Inon Barnatan.

The final tone poem, Til Eulenspiegel, was played with all of its sardonic humor. It featured the San Diego’s magnificent first horn, Benjamin Jaber, in Til’s theme, one which the horns often use to warm up. It is also a standard requirement for all horn auditions, just as Don Juan excerpts are nearly always required for string auditions.

I will never forget my audition for the San Diego Symphony in the fall of 1967. I worked very hard on the music of Don Juan, especially the opening page, which includes some of the most challenging virtuosic string writing in the repertoire, anticipating that it would probably be asked for at the audition, only to be surprised by my being asked to read Strauss’ Til Eulenspiegel instead. I remember how I struggled to read those high ledger-lined notes. Now a days, auditioners are given the repertoire in advance, but when I auditioned, all the orchestral excerpts were expected to be sight-read, a skill unto itself. Fortunately, the playing of my solo selection and passages from the Eroica Symphony went well, and I was welcomed into the Violin Section of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra under their newly appointed director, Zoltan Rozsnyai.

The San Diego Symphony Orchestra continues to amaze with its high level of performance in the renovated Jacobs Music Center with its improved acoustics and enhanced beauty. If you have not yet experienced a concert there, you need to put that as one of your New Year’s resolutions.

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Eileen Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, specializes in coverage of the arts.