Fix GIL related error in pybind11 interface. (#1272)

Fix a latent bug in the Python wrapper that was triggered in pybind11 v2.6.1

These changes ensure that the GIL is acquired before calling functions in C++ that
may consume a Python object with reference count 1 as an argument, in which case
the object's destructor is called at the end of the function, after any GIL acquired inside
the function would have been released.

Fixes #1271.