United Kingdom BBC Proms 2025 [24] – Sutherland, Dvořák, Tchaikovsky: Khatia Buniatishvili (piano); Melbourne Symphony Orchestra / Jaime Martín (conductor). Royal Albert Corridor, London, 29.8.2025. (CC)
Margaret Sutherland – Haunted Hills
Dvořák – Symphony No.6 in D, Op.60
Tchaikovsky – Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor, Op.23
‘This programme has been edited because it was first broadcast’. Not half: there have been very vocal protests through the pro-Palestine protest group Jewish Artists for Palestine; the catalyst appears to have been the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s cancellation of a efficiency by Jess Gillam final yr in Sydney in response to feedback he made that have been stated to be pro-Gaza. Shouting began a couple of minutes in, with banners hung from the Gallery promenade house studying, ‘BBC and MSO Complicit In Genocide’. That’s the one I might see, anyway – there might have been extra. Finally, Jaime Martín stopped the efficiency and exited the stage; after a hiatus, the live performance started from the start once more.
The apparent results any disruption resembling this is able to have been understandably audible in efficiency, and have been no less than within the upward, trumpet-led gesture of the opening to Haunted Hills, so assured on first incarnation, somewhat extra ragged on the second; in each of them, Martín had clearly selected the brass color (the Melbourne SO’s recording, performed by John Hopkins in an Australian Broadcasting Company launch blends trumpet extra with higher strings). Whichever means one hears it, it’s an arresting opening, and listening reside within the corridor the dedication of the Australian orchestra was outstanding. Focus was palpable; an try to restart the disturbance at a hushed second led to an prolonged pause however no cessation of efficiency; nerves of metal from Martín. In a way, then, whereas this was the piece’s first efficiency on the BBC Proms, there stays house for a ‘first full efficiency on the Proms,’ one through which gamers and viewers weren’t so on edge, the place the music might circulation uninterrupted from finish to finish.
Margaret Sutherland was an actual proponent of taking the native landscapes of Australia as inspiration: craggy however grand. The tone-poem Haunted Hills takes the Dandenong Ranges as place to begin, the results of colliding tectonic plates and volcanic eruptions (they’re close to Melbourne). However there was extra, and maybe Sutherland’s social protest took on a selected poignancy this night: she keenly felt the ache of the Indigenous tribes who have been displaced by white settlers. She stated that Haunted Hills was a ‘contemplation for the primary individuals who roamed the hills, their bewilderment and their betrayal … its seeming gaiety born of despair’.
The ABC efficiency finds Wagnerian echoes in direction of the top; much less so right here within the Royal Albert Corridor, the place the emphasis was on Sutherland’s individuality of utterance. The piece is attention-grabbing structurally; a trumpet/violin ‘echo’ recurs as an aural place-maker. Melodies are comparatively conventional, however harmonies are usually not at all times. Regardless of the usage of recurring materials, Sutherland retains the listener guessing as to the place the music will go. She additionally appears to separate the brass into horns and trombones in dialogue – which labored brilliantly.
Lengthy-lived Margaret Sutherland was born in Adelaide, attaining her bachelor’s diploma at Melbourne College in 1896. She set sail for England in 1923, audaciously approaching Arnold Bax, no much less, for classes: sheer grit and willpower acquired them. She returned again to Australia in 1925; in a while in life, she was awarded a doctorate by her alma mater (1969), an OBE in 1970, and the Order of Australia in 1981.
Then to the subsequent change: as an alternative of the Tchaikovsky First Concerto, the piano was eliminated (Khatia Buniatishvili’s efficiency was apparently hanging within the steadiness at this level, in accordance with the BBC commentary). However ultimately, regardless of the size of the primary half of the live performance, Dvořák was a superb transfer. The music of the Sixth Symphony is pastoral at coronary heart, the primary motion’s themes typically gently skipping, the opening softly wafting (the way it wafted fairly because it did I’ll by no means know). Pairs of woodwind in dialogue have been positively scrumptious, and Martín ensured the music flowed completely. The Adagio that adopted might have benefitted from extra depth from the strings, however was touching and heartfelt, the numerous wind contributions balm to the ear.
Martín introduced the Scherzo, a Furiant, firmly into the realms of the Slavonic Dance; there have been moments of what I can solely describe as ‘fizz’. Woodwind and horn name and responses was completely completely balanced; to play at this stage in adversity is so spectacular. Whereas the primary violins struggled a contact within the finale with a number of the composer’s writing, the sense of lush expansiveness was balm to the soul, therapeutic, I think about, for each gamers and viewers. Accents have been superbly ‘nudged’; an actual feeling of the composer’s Czech roots exuded.
And so to Tchaikovsky, now in post-interval house. I’ve despaired, beforehand, of Buniatishvili’s waywardness, a lot in order that she will be able to seem, as I stated then, ‘misaligned’ with the music (assessment right here). With orchestra reining in an excessive amount of rubato, issues are on firmer soil. And Martïn is a merely fantastic collaborator, attentive at each flip. Speeds have been quick right here, coupled, although, with a fragile method from Buniatishvili. She does have excellent bass-end readability (and really clear double octaves, for that matter), whereas trills are to die for. There was house the place house was wanted; sure, often it felt too indulgent in order that it would grind to a halt, however these moments have been few and much between.
How good to listen to the pizzicato firstly of the sluggish motion so clearly; consultant of the care Martín, and his gamers lavished on their contribution. Buniatishvili’s prestidigitation has by no means been unsure, and the sooner part right here positively sparkled. Some beautiful solo contributions right here from the orchestra too, significantly the oboe and the principal cello.
The finale was I believe the quickest I’ve heard it …ever. This was extraordinary enjoying, and nice on-their-toes accompaniment from the MSO. Woodwind curlicues might probably not be honoured at such velocity, however this was breathtaking stuff.
An encore amazingly: J. S. Bach’s association (BWV 974) of a motion from an Alessandro Marcello Oboe Concerto, a sometimes intimate efficiency which led to full silence; Buniatishvili has recorded it as a part of her Sony Classical launch Labyrinth. While much more introspective right here on the Albert Corridor, Buniatishvili maybe moved Marcello a way additional forwards than Bach had taken him, but it surely definitely was calming after the fireworks of that Tchaikovsky finale.
It’s troublesome to know spherical off a report on a live performance resembling this. Musically, the revelation was the Margaret Sutherland piece for positive; however the professionalism of all performers involved must be saluted.
Colin Clarke
Featured Picture: Khatia Buniatishvili performs Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Live performance on the BBC Proms 2025 © BBC/Chris Christodoulou
