It was inevitable that protests over Israel-Palestine would eventually reach the Proms after disruptions at Covent Garden and the Rossini Opera Festival, yet when banners unfurled and shouting commenced during the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s visit to the Royal Albert Hall it still came as a surprise.
The MSO under Chief Conductor Jaime Martín were midway through the first piece of an intriguing programme, Haunted Hills by Margaret Sutherland, when the protests began. Sutherland, a 20th-century Australian composer, captures in the work something of the Dandenong Ranges in her native country; as a symphonic poem, it’s a work of deft evocation that brings the listener on a wander through a stark, yet beautiful landscape. The MSO gave it an excellent showing, drawing out elements of Strauss and moments that felt at times akin to Gershwin. The MSO’s brass section – on fine form throughout the evening – was particularly strong here, with an excellent trumpet opening, full, sometimes bluesy horns, and resonant trombones. The first violins, particularly in the first half, had a keen attack which propelled the work forward – a real sense of rhythm and thrust. The protests, reportedly a reaction to the MSO cancelling a performance by pro-Gaza pianist Jayson Gillham in 2024, kicked off about ten minutes in, prompting the departure of Martín from the podium; a short delay ensued while the protesters were removed and then the piece was started from the beginning. A brief second attempt at protests was furiously shouted down by the audience.
The disruption prompted a last-minute rearrangement to the programme; Dvořák’s Symphony no. 6 in D major which was originally to form the second half of the evening was brought forward, deferring the Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. Understandably the interpretation of the Dvořák was not what it might have been. The MSO played well, with open brass and a gleam to the strings throughout, but the first movement had a touch of lethargy to it, and the second lacked the feeling of rhythm that underpins the symphony. The third movement was effervescent, the players almost goading each other on, with some gentle, rounded horn playing and plenty of bite to the first violins. A well-judged climax on the fourth movement capped an exciting performance, but lacking throughout was a wider sense of the architecture of the symphony; each movement felt just slightly too self-contained.
Taking to a piano that had shunted around more often than expected, Khatia Buniatishvili delivered an interesting interpretation of the Tchaikovsky, eschewing a grand, traditionalist approach for a softer, more artistic vision. Playing was very much on the impressionist side, with undefined notes blurring into one silky stream. Martín was in constant visual communication from the podium, often facing her for extended periods; it was not wholly clear that the orchestra, more stolid than Buniatishvili, was always in harmony with her stylistic approach (I’ve never heard Tchaikovsky seem quite so jazzy at one point in the first movement), but he kept the tempi and dynamics at a level which ensured the piano was not overwhelmed. Buniatishvili’s interpretation would not be a preference – too often in the first and third movements her style felt mannered – but it was an interesting sound, with particular focus on textural dynamics. Despite the disruption, a rewarding evening and the musicians are to be commended for playing on.
