Following WA Symphony Orchestra composer-in-residence Olivia Davies’ WASO-associated trajectory from 2020’s Stratus, through In Waves (2022) and Oscillations (2023) to Hyphae (2024), one can hear an increasing mastery of the orchestra as instrument.

And indeed, the evolution of a distinct musical language at the root of which is the seemingly infinite generative potential of a single cell.

Olivia Davies, Dmitry Matvienko and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Photo © Daniel James Grant

In a previous review I had described Oscillations as “a beautifully crafted if overwhelming sonic experience”. In Hyphae – which continues Davies’ fascination with seeking inspiration from nature, the “long branching filaments that form the underground fungal network known as Mycelium” – there is a kind of disciplined organicism and refined complexity which eschews affective gestures in favour of a complete confidence in the ideas and the material.

Under the baton of Dmitry Matvienko, here making his WASO debut, the orchestra articulated Davies’ sonic vision with clarity and an expressive warmth usually reserved for classical and romantic repertoire, but which spoke directly to Davies’ holding an “image in mind of Hyphae extending, branching and fusing. It is a...