A commendable presentation of the centre piece could speak for a whole concert — for instance, Krupaa Lakshmi’s Shanmukhapriya alapana followed by Pattanam Subramani Iyer's ‘Marivere dikkeverayya Rama.’ The alapana was vivid and the niraval had many creative phrases. The kalpanaswaras were well presented too. The interesting kuraippu patterns leading to the finale of the segment displayed Krupaa Lakshmi’s control over rhythm.
Singing in morning concerts is a challenge with the voice still opening up for sharp brigas and long karvais. Krupaa Lakshmi quickly warmed up with the Andolika varnam of G.N. Balasubramaniam and followed it up with ‘Sarasiruhasanapriye’ in Nattai sprinkling lively swaras in the madhyama kala line in charanam beginning with Saraswati.
Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Kannada raga composition ‘Palayamam Parvatisa,’ which is not often heard on the concert dais, was neatly presented with a chittaiswaram changing the nadai briefly.
C. Visvesh on the violin grasped the vocalist’s flow of the raga alapana and the focus on certain swaras in the kalpanaswara singing quickly. His individual essay of Shanmukhapriya deserves a mention. Vignesh Srinivasan on the mridangam picked up the gait of the concert from the opening piece and displayed his skill in his tani avarthanam.
Guru Surajananda’s ‘Muruganin maru peyar azhagu’ in Behag and Rajendra kanye in Suddha Sarang composed by Madurai G. S. Mani added variety in the melodic session post main number.
