I’ll be upfront. This Friday night concert was near perfect, the classic combination of a shorter new work acting as overture, a concerto and a symphony sounding, under Asher Fisch’s firm direction, completely novel and exciting.

Olivia Davis and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Photo © Daniel James Grant

WASO Composer in Residence Olivia Davies has had two world premieres in close succession, with her choral piece Murmuration performed by WASO Chorus just a few days ahead of Oscillations. Although the two works share the idea of developing a single unit, whether it be word, cell or gesture, over time, their effects could not be more different.

Oscillations is a beautifully crafted if overwhelming sonic experience that has the virtue of depositing the listener on a strange shore from which he or she can enjoy any subsequent, more familiar works in a concert program with fresh ears. It certainly proved to be the case here, with Fisch and WASO pulling out all the stops, as though to say: “Wake up! Listen!”

Oscillations is a fine achievement and deserves to be widely performed.