One of Australia’s most distinctive and recognisable musical voices, Ross Edwards has had an uncanny ability to marry sounds derived from the country’s extraordinary natural world with echoes of the equally rich but very different heritage of Western music. 

Listening to this long overdue issue of two symphonies and a double concerto for percussion and alto saxophone, recorded between 1998 and 2016, there is a wonderful synergy between Edwards’ joyous breadth of expression and his quiet spiritual depth. The spirit of Mahler seems to hover over his second and third symphonies; the second, “Earth Spirit Songs” with its invocations of the Holy Spirit and his third, “Mater Magna” together echo themes from Mahler’s massive Symphony No 8.

Earth Spirit Songs was especially written for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and soprano Yvonne Kenny, who, under the direction of David Zinman brings lustrous tone to the work’s three diverse texts: selections from the Mass of Pentecost, The Lost Man by Judith Wright and the spring hymn O viridissima virga by Hildegard of Bingen. Surrounded by vibrant dances, the...