Last Friday (2 August), WASO treated us to the premier of composer-in-residence Olivia Davies’ extraordinary Hyphae. This Friday just gone, the equally extraordinary if very different Superhighway, by Sydney-based composer Holly Harrison.

Commissioned for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra by Geoff Stearn and written for virtuoso saxophonist Matt Styles, the soloist on this occasion, Superhighway is a super concerto cast in the usual fast-slow-fast movements but in every other respect breaking the mould. As Harrison writes in her program note:

“My soundworld embraces a range of genres and stylistic juxtapositions, and this concerto is no exception. You may hear elements from funk, metal, punk, disco, prog-rock, blues, and perhaps even some gospel and hip-hop too, but most of all, I hope you will hear what a wonderfully diverse instrument the saxophone is.”

Like the other works on the bill – Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides overture and Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique – Superhighway is programmatic music which also succeeds on its own terms as a gloriously abstract yet visceral rollercoaster ride. To quote Harrison again, “I could write all day about metaphors of orchestras and soloists as highways and cars, but what I’m really interested in is music that just goes.”