Spokane Symphony: A trek to the Northern Lights for music from Scandinavia, Russia

The Spokane Symphony’s season rolls along this weekend with a Classics concert that bridges musical generations and explores man’s relationship with nature. Titled “Northern Lights,” the program will showcase the work of two Scandinavian composers, Finland’s Jean Sibelius and Iceland’s Valgeir Sigurosson, and a masterpiece by one of Russia’s greatest artists.

“I usually try to have at least one familiar piece on the program, and at least one that is either very unfamiliar or new to our audience,” said symphony conductor and music director Eckart Preu. “When you go to Scandinavian countries, they have a very particular, unique musical language, which is very different from anything else on this earth.”

The evening opens with the Sigurosson piece, “Dreamland,” which is making its U.S. premiere at the Fox Theater. The performance will be accompanied by footage from the 2010 documentary of the same name, illustrating how Iceland’s landscapes have been altered (and in some cases destroyed) by the country’s reliance on hydroelectric power.

“It’s basically one long helicopter ride showing all these beautiful Icelandic landscapes that don’t exist anymore,” Preu said. “It’s haunting, charming, innovative, beautiful – all that stuff.”

Those themes of nature and the need for preservation are echoed in Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5, which Preu considers the Finnish composer’s greatest work. Written in 1915 and revised several times in the years that followed, the piece was originally commissioned by Finland’s government.

“It’s just so beautiful, so earthy,” Preu said. “(Sibelius) was living in a house in isolation in a Finnish forest, so you can feel that spirituality of being alone with nature. It’s phenomenal what he does with the orchestra. It’s not a mere illustration of nature, even though many people here that, but it’s a lot more than that.”

The Sigurosson and Sibelius pieces serve as bookends to the program’s showstopper, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The performance will feature Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan, the first member of the New York Philharmonic’s Artist in Association program.

“I started checking him out online, and he’s just phenomenal,” Preu said. “Usually when you listen to music online, it loses a lot, and sometimes it’s really hard to judge performers when you listen to them on YouTube. But his gifts are so obvious, and I’m looking forward to working with him.”

Rachmaninoff completed the concerto in 1901, following a long bout of depression and inactivity. It boosted his stalled career and renewed his creative energies, and it remains one of the most recognized pieces of orchestral music of the 20th century.

“If there is an ultimate piano concerto, this is it,” Preu said. “Everyone loves Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto. No matter how often you do it, every time it’s overwhelming and beautiful and emotional. It’s really a high quality, beautiful showcase for the pianist. That’s why I chose it, because when I listened to Inon online, he has virtuosity, but it’s always for the goal of musical expression. And that’s exactly what Rachmaninoff is about, showing what you can do in service of emotional expression.”