The saxophone recital by G. Ramanathan, disciple of Kadri Gopalnath, opened the morning session at the Narada Gana Sabha Mini hall. ‘Varamu’ suited the sax and G. Ramanathan capitalised on it, infusing a lot of ‘kuzhaivu,’ that is possible on the instrument. A brisk ‘Manasuloni’ paved the way for his next choice, Dharmavati. Quite tough to execute in sax, this raga, nevertheless, was enjoyable.
The baritone notes in the lower octave did not sound harsh. In fact, he hovered around that octave for a longer duration. Absolute breath control was the hallmark of his approach that enabled him to make optimum use of sound dynamics. V. Suresh Babu’s (violin) reply was effective.
How can a sax concert be complete without Hamsadhwani? It did come in the form of Tyagaraja’s ‘Raghunayaka’ and Ramanathan’s approach was akin to his guru’s in the swara segment. Guru Raghavendra (mridangam) has a tone that has an inherent power. He had a field day with fantastic playing by Hariharasubramaniam (ghatam).
The pacy ‘Sobillu Saptaswara’ came next. It ushered in drama in the form of a rasika who rushed to the stage and objected to the speedy rendition. G. Ramanathan, unfazed by this sudden criticism, just smiled and went on to replay the kriti again at half speed.
Bilahari, the morning’s main, was given a fair treatment by Ramanathan and Suresh Babu’s reply enhanced it.
The moment the raga was completed, the same rasika began humming ‘Kannu Kontini,’ which was clearly audible in the near empty hall whereas Ramanathan’s choice was ‘Dorakuna Ituvanti.’ Should not rasikas be more disciplined?
The brief kalpanaswaras led to a thani where the percussionists exhibited interesting patterns.
