With an almost matching tonal quality, the two veenas, with one player strumming the instrument a trifle softer than the other, sounded like one throughout the concert.
Ramnath and Gopinath Iyer, who land in Chennai for every Season from abroad, never carry jazzy electronic attachments to this traditional instrument. Respecting the dignity of the music the veena produces and adhering to tradition made their concert soul satisfying.
A short Begada raga alapana came after the customary Vinayaka stuti ‘Pramamyaham' in Gowla (Dikshitar) from Ramnath.
The essence of the slightly sharpened madhyama as it is sung in vocal traditions was exactly brought out in the veena. The brothers rendered ‘Sankari Neeve' of Subbaraya Sastri at a slightly faster pace.
A beautiful Kalyani alapana was presented by Gopinath. The occasional use of panchama varja phrases kept the aesthetics of the raga intact. ‘Bhajare Re Chitta,' again a Dikshitar kriti in Misra Chapu, had niraval and swarakalpanas in measured doses.
Swati Tirunal's Devagandhari kriti ‘Rama Rama Pahi' was notable with the characteristic nishada of the raga in place at all times.
The duo chose ‘Bantureeti' in Hamsanandhi of Tyagaraja as a filler to the main raga, Bhairavi. The alapana was full of life with perfect handling of the dhaivata making it a class apart. None other than ‘Balagopala' (Dikshitar) in a leisurely two kalais could go after the grand tanam including a ghana raga panchakam.
The percussive exchanges between the veteran Mannargudi Eswaran on the mridangam and ghatam vidwan Vaikkom Gopalakrishnan were elegant to the core. Both had a perfect understanding in the buildup of phrases and korvais.
Granting a little space for silence allowing the veenas to exhibit the jeeva swaras, the percussionists lifted the level of the concert. Their thani too had soft tones but solid patterns.
There was another Swati Tirunal composition which the brothers played that day – ‘Vihara Manasa' in Kapi. They concluded with ‘Adi Neepai', Dharmapuri Subbarayar's javali with an interesting tisra nadai woven in.
