"Melody is the mother; rhythm is the father."

Melbourne International Arts Festival

Sruti, mata. Laya, pita: "Melody is the mother; rhythm is the father." This cherished Sanskrit aphorism acts as a springboard into the Australian Art Orchestra's latest project, and a key to unlocking some of the secrets of south Indian classical music.

The rhythmic intricacies of Carnatic music have become increasingly familiar to the members of the AAO over the past seven years - and it shows. In 1996, when the ensemble first performed Into the Fire with master percussionist Karaikudi R Mani, the Australians played with verve and virtuosity, but only a limited understanding of the nature and complexity of the music's structure.

Now, after many tours and further collaborations with Sri Mani's Sruthi Laya percussion ensemble, the AAO musicians sound not only irresistibly dynamic, but as tightly confident as their Indian onstage colleagues.

Monday night's Concert Hall program opened with three short works: Scott Tinkler's Stitching Leonardo; Daryl Pratt's Saraswati; and Trimurti, co-written by Adrian Sherriff and Elliott Dalgleish. Dalgleish's wailing sopranino set the woozily dissonant tone of Stitching Leonardo, which also saw Sherriff's bass trombone engage in a marvellously precise dialogue with the mridangam of Sri Mani.

Saraswati and Trimurti were both world premieres, and represented the AAO's attempt to fully integrate the 'sruti' and 'laya' aspects of south Indian classical music. For the first time, the orchestral lineup was augmented by Indian melodic instruments - in this case, the flute (played by B V Balasai) and sitar (B Sivaramakrishna Rao).

In Saraswati, the flute and sitar locked into the agitated rhythms of Sri Mani and ghatam player V Suresh with breathtaking synchronicity. This piece also featured a wonderfully sinuous introduction by Julien Wilson on soprano sax, and a powerful, piercing solo from trumpeter Scott Tinkler.

Trimurti, inspired by three different aspects of Hinduism, led the orchestra - and the audience - on a journey that began as a single, modulating flute line, grew into a full-bodied melody with rousing solos and ensemble statements, and dissolved into an eerie, almost hallucinatory pool where sampled flute and sitar textures bubbled alongside shivery string harmonics.

The second half of the program was a celebration of Into the Fire - the piece that initiated this Indo-Australian collaboration in 1996 - in all its exultant, pulsating glory. Skilfully arranged by Adrian Sherriff and based on a composition by Sri Mani, it linked elements of southern Indian and Western orchestral traditions in a way that energised both, rather than reducing them to shallow cliches.

Dancer Rajeswari Sainath (Sri Mani's niece) articulated the shifting moods and sharp accents of the piece with extraordinarily expressive movements, while the orchestra dug tightly into the rhythmic detail of the ragas and soared with brassy splendour over the increasingly ecstatic melody.

Sri Mani's mesmerising, pure-toned singing opened the piece, and, in the fifth movement, his prodigious mridangam playing featured in a thrilling percussion duet with V Suresh. By the time he ushered the orchestra back in to restate the theme, the entire ensemble really was on fire, revelling in the joyful energy of this music as their final, climactic statement melted back into the embers of a single drone.