Photo, Chris Christodoulou
The live relay from Berlin had just finished. I jumped to R3 expecting to hear Khatia Buniatishvili somewhere in the first movement of Tchaikovsky PC1. But no, there was conversation, something had happened … eventually it was revealed (to me) that a disturbance had occurred, twice, during the Sutherland piece (composed in 1950 by a Melbourne local), the MSO, at the end of a European tour, stopping the first time, ploughing on the second. As a consequence, the Dvořák was moved to the first half and emerged as fresh and sparkling, and Khatia (now appearing following the interval rather than before it, said to be “jangled” by the disruption, albeit difficult for the radio listener to hear what the shouting was about) was Khatia in the Tchaikovsky – impulsive, dominating, fearless, fireworks-a-plenty, sometimes gentle and semplice, such as in the outer measures of the second movement, with the dexterity of its central bars amazing if akin to a 33-1/3 rpm LP being played at 45. How well Jaime Martín and the orchestra did to stay with the pianist, and for an encore it was a Marcello/Bach Adagio from her, very lovely. Maybe the MSO had an extra planned that was sacrificed due to the change of order?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002h8sp