It is understandable that a young violinist, belonging to a lineage that boasts of stunning mastery over the violin, strives hard for virtuosity with the instrument. Ambi Subramanian has a pleasing stage presence. True to his tradition, Ambi began with the Sahana varnam and played it in five speeds. He had absolute control over the instrument. There was an invocation to Lord Vinayaka through Mysore Vasudevachar’s ‘Pranamamyaham’ in Gowla with a brief spell of swaras added to the Pallavi line. He played an alapana of Bilahari and followed it up with the popular kriti, ‘Paridanamichithe’ (Patnam Subramania Iyer). Both during the alapana and the swaras, his versatility was evident. His left hand could traverse the octaves at lightning speed while his right could wield the bow for swaras at breath-taking speed.
Ambi played Tyagaraja’s ‘Teliyaleru Rama’ (Dhenuka) at a relaxed speed. It was a bit of a surprise when he passed on the baton to the tala vadyas for the tani avartanam, directly after the kriti without playing swaras. Though senior by age, Gopinath (mridangam) was very supportive and encouraging. He participated enthusiastically in Ambi’s fast swara passages and played a good thani.
Sathyasai teamed up well with them though the amplification for his morsing seemed a bit too high. Ambi played ‘Padavini Satbhakti’ in Salakabhairavi. Some of the descending passages in the kriti sounded beautiful. Simhendramadyamam was the main raga for the concert. Ambi played ragam and tanam. His tanam bowing looked good and there were many pleasing moments during this spell of improvisation. There were swaras for the madhyamakala sahitya, ‘Komala Hrudaya.’ The variations in speeds and gaits followed, each one looking more challenging than the other. As the concert neared its end, there were mixed feelings. While Ambi did give evidence of his melodic capability, his grip over ragas did not impress. Sahana had an ‘r g s’ phrase. The rishaba of Gowla did not oscillate right. Bilahari’s image was missing in his alapana. Simhendramadhyamam served more as a scale than as a melody. If this gifted youngster can address this problem, he will certainly go places!
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