D. Balakrishna has the fortune of being the son and disciple of veena vidwan Dr. V. Doreswamy Iyengar and also the torchbearer of the Mysore Bani of veena playing. This style underscores classicism without any profligacy. The emphasis was more on raga sensitivity and sahitya limpidness at the same time keeping the spirit of the concert aloft.
In his concert Da. Balakrishna served the limited audience with many compositions as the veena players have the concern of carrying the entire concert on their shoulders since there are no other supporting artists like violinists, except percussion.
But Balakrishna was all game. His playing never diluted at any stage. His energy did not dissolve at any point. Dikshitar’s ‘Sri Mahaganapathir Avathumam’ in Gowla gave the recital a dynamic start. Ramapriya portrayal was crisp and the vivacious ‘Korinavara Mosakumayya’ of Patnam Subramania Iyer had a brisk niraval and swaras on ‘Sarivarilo.’ The Bilahari raga spread went with Tyagaraja’s dynamic piece ‘Na Jeevathara’ with its plethora of sangatis at flying speed.
Abheri alapana dwelt on some soft and supple touches and ended up with Mysore Vasudevachar’s kriti ‘Bhajare Manasa’. Swara linkages added weight to the rendition. It was time for a laid back treat and so Balakrishna ventured on a Yadukulakhambodi essay. The dyed-in-the-wool raga and the popular Tyagaraja kriti ‘Hecharika Ra Ra’ were quite engaging.
Nattakurinji RTP was the tour-de-force of Balakrishna’s programme. The raga has a deep seated lilt and melody, yet, it is quite pliable for several generous ingenious enrichments. Balakrishna’s experience and expertise came to the forefront in his raga delineation and tanam component. He included the gana ragamalika in the tanam of the traditional genre. The pallavi set to chatusra triputa passed the various stages of pallavi package. In such instrumental concerts the percussion artists need to be more conscious of their contribution. Bengaluru Arjun Kumar on the mridangam and G. Guruprasanna on the ganjira expertly played their part and vied with each other for honours in their thani.
