Melbournians fly the flag for Oz with a walloping Royal Albert hall debut.

Tuesday evening’s Prom was the London debut of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with its Principal Conductor Sir Andrew Davis.

The opening of  Richard Strauss Don Juan was dynamic and precise, yet passionate. The early violin solo [*Dale Barltrop, leader in the first half of the concert] was singingly expressive, and was accompanied delicately. Sir Andrew and the Orchestra brought every corner of this early Strauss into vivid and pleasurable action, finding both a strong forte that was confident and effective, and  an expressive and carefully balanced piano dynamic to great effect. The build-up when Don Juan meets his end in a duel was powerfully expressive, and Sir Andrew and the orchestra dramatised the sudden and unexpected finale perfectly.

The youthful energy of this early Strauss was well caught, and was followed in this concert by Elgar’s elegiac Cello Concerto, the composer’s last major orchestral work. Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk gave a restrained and pensive performance, gripping the attention, and Sir Andrew’s delicate accompaniment, maintaining the mood throughout , until the Allegro finale which was vigorous and dramatic. Mørk played  p/pp  in the long, deeply expressive phrases in the first three movements, using his sostenuto singing tone in the extended diminuendo phrases to magical effect. His encore from one of Britten’s Cello Suites recast Elgar’s cogitative spell, and his rich, unforced tone well suited  the piece.

After the interval came Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique from 1830/1. It seems far ahead of its time, and here Sir Andrew and the orchestra played  confidently and energetically to prove it. The dramatic mood of each movement was captured: the waltz in the Tchaikovsky-like second movement (The Ball) was passionate and energetic, yet precise; the Scene in the Country was delicately colourful, with many expressive wind solos; the rumblings at the end of the movement were aptly sinister and ominous: the March to the Scaffold was vigorous and dramatic, finding the brass on explosive form. Sir Andrew energised a spectacular finale, housing a suitably wild solo on the E Flat clarinet .

For an encore, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra played Melbourne-born Percy Grainger’s Handel in the Strand. This was a magical performance, which captured the swinging fun of the piece and brought the evening to a vigorous finish, well justifying the cheerful mood in the arena.