Ramakrishnan Murthy’s concert for Kartik Fine Arts stood out for its seamless flow of melody, which did not take away from technique. His treatment of the three ragas, which he had selected established his resepct for sahitya bhava.
Ritigowla was carefully anchored on sruti-aligned karvais and the raga was developed with the focus on melodic phrases.
Tyagaraja’s ‘Raga ratna’ came with the niraval and swaras on ‘Bhagavatothamulu koodi.’ Vasantha was painted in both shades — vivid and sober. Here his choice of the lesser-heard Subbaraya Sastri kriti, ‘Sri Kamakshi,’ with a chittaswara turned out to be a pleasing exercise. Also the swara adjunct with ‘sa’ as the central note was replete with raga bhava.
Majestic Khambodi
The last segment of RTP in Khambodi found an energetic Ramakrishnan Murthy tapping the raga’s majestic contours.
Tanam moved at a brisk pace, but the pallavi, set in Triputa, was a tepid affair. Rapid fire ragamalika swaras in Nattai, Gowla, Arabhi, Varali and Sri were a bonus.
The other compositions‘Abhimanamen’ in Begada (Patnam Subramania Iyer), the sedate filler ‘Dalachinavaru’ in Dhanyasi (Subbaraya Sastri), and the concluding ‘Irakkam Varamal’ in Behag (Gopalakrishna Bharati) with the preface of ‘Kaadalagi kasindhu’, Gnanasambandar pathigam, were commendable in impact and piety.
S. Varadharajan (violin) known for his flawless technique, followed the young vocalist’s vision and presented his versions with insight. His raga essays and swara passages were melodic and lively.
K. Arun Prakash and K.V. Gopalakrishnan on the mridangam and ganjira respectively, played their part with sobriety; even their tani avartanam, had a soft touch.
