The Spanish touch emanated at the S.F. Symphony this week, without a note of Spanish music played. The highly polished program spotlighting works both old and new emanated from conductor Gustavo Gimeno and pianist Javier Perianes. Gimeno deftly walked a tightrope contrasting two short modern pieces with standards by Mozart and Mendelssohn.

The SFS trend of including a living composer nearly every time brought on the Korean-German composer Unsuk Chin, 60, in her brief but tumultuous “subito con forza” composition. Created for Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, it emulated in both music and title the vehement opening chords of the latter’s “Coriolan” Overture. Little known hereabouts, Chin and her concertos have been played enough in the U.S. that she was awarded the highly esteemed Grawemeyer Award for composition in 2004.

Her “subito con forza” opus revels in sharp contrasts, with alternate moments of serenity and moments of controlled chaos. The crashing (altered) opening chords of “Coriolan” give way to barely audible high violins in pianissimo offset against contrabasses played far below. Eventually one hears the French horn on a note played four times identically, in the rhythm of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony opening.

Living in Communist Hungary until his escape in the 1956 revolt, György Ligeti (1923-2006) had to wait 20 years for the world premiere of his Rumanian-folk-inspired “Concert Romȃnesc.” This too had sharp contrasts and hard accents in its multiple dance-rhythm movements, with a dialogue of two horns, one of them in echo. Other features are the inevitable Rumanian clarinet, a muted trumpet, piercing piccolo and solos by violinist Nadya Tichman and English-horn soloist Russ DeLuna. The young Ligeti had followed the footsteps of fellow composers Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly, bringing Eastern European folk idioms into the symphony hall. After performance of the 13-minute suite Nov. 4, SFS musicians lingered on stage in animated upbeat conversation with one another, in a way that the much beleaguered Ligeti would have loved.

The elegant conductor Gimeno led with panache, yet reverted to the most plangent slow movement of Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony I have heard—even more moving than the Mozart “Elvira Madigan” slow movement (from Piano Concerto No. 21) so adored by masses of symphony-goers.

His beat was clear and altered as needed to fit each musical mood and style. I was impressed that unlike others, he had moved the kettle drums down from the fifth step up to the third step (upstage), thus for once avoiding letting its resonance remind you of timpani concertos. Clearly, in his SFS debut, this fast-emerging music director of the Toronto Symphony showed a refined ear and good leadership qualities.

The Concerto No. 21 spotlighted the nimble pianist Javier Perianes, who toned down the grand piano to sonic dimensions recalling ones Beethoven had played, marked by a lucid touch, effusive only in the substantial cadenza (solo segment), where his broader dimensions emerged vividly.

MUSIC NOTES—The pairing of works by Chin and Ligeti on the Nov. 4 program was hardly coincidental, as Chin had studied composition in Germany with Ligeti…Ligeti had a challenging history, fleeing his homeland for Western freedom during the 1956 Budapest revolt. When in the Bay Area almost two decades later, he revealed to me in an interview that the blockbuster film “2001, a Space Odyssey” had pirated 28 minutes of his music, including his haunting a-cappella choral “Atmosphères,” without compensation or permission. That led to a lawsuit settlement which, he noted ruefully, “Was very good for my lawyer but not very good for me!” Stanley Kubrick later made amends by using and compensating Ligeti and his music, inserting his work in later films like “The Shining.”

The SFS has moved decisively away from the stiff old white-tie garb in concert, now favoring all-black wear for both genders, consistent with the less formal taste of Music Director Salonen.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY under Gustavo Gimeno’s baton, at Davies Hall S.F. Nov. 4, 5 and 7. For info: (415) 864-6000, or go online: www.sfsymphony.org.