Entrance to last night’s performance of the MSO at Hamer Hall was one greeted by ushers clasping iPads emblazoned with bold text forbidding the use of cameras. After presenting my tickets at the stage door, I was turned away and ordered back to the foyer, three floors up, to check my bag.

Everything in strict order, with the least possible intrusion – and no smartphones to record any part of it. Such is the hush-hush atmosphere of an MSO performance, following the widespread ire generated by the organisation’s decision to cancel a performance by concert pianist Jayson Gillham for his remarks on journalists killed in Gaza.

Here, at least, we’re on less controversial ground with Dvořák’s Violin Concerto and Bruckner’s popular Fourth Symphony. These large works for orchestra serve the MSO well as showcases of technical craft, while granting conductor Daniel Carter immense liberty to prove his own finesse and dexterity.

In this respect, then – as a means of restoring faith in the MSO – the concert succeeded. It was a performance to command respect but not, ultimately, to inspire awe.

Members of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Photo © Laura Maraniti

Carter...