Nithyashree Mahadeven was her usual self during the concert . Her voice showed the characteristic resonant tenor and as her wont she never missed any opportunity to reach higher pitches with tact.
The varnam ‘Gana Nayaka’ in Sunadha Vinodhini by N.S. Ramachandran was a refreshing departure since one finds that musicians invariably recycle only a handful of varnams. ‘Ninnadae’ in Kannada by Tyagaraja came with a bouquet of swaras. Vachaspati raga alapana and the supporting kriti ‘Kandajoodumi’ were quite immaculate. Nithyashree blended her freewheeling akaras and long phrases quite imposingly in this part. ‘Allanadu Sowmitri’ was taken up for swara extension.
‘Balakrishnan Padamalar’ in Dhanyasi and ‘Tyagaraja Yoga Vaibhavam’ in Anandabhairavai came as a relief from the tempestuous presentation until now.
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Lalitha was elaborated in detail. Nithyashree exploited her vocal power to the extent possible to extract the charm of the raga. She even stretched her voice to reach beyond upper madyamam. She drew some of the beauteous contours of the raga with swinging phrases, yet at some places it seemed over stretched.
‘Nannu Brovu Lalitha’ was presented at a leisurely pace and swaras were segued with ‘Sumeru Madya’. New filler in the raga Moharanjani by Cuddalore Subramaniam which started as ‘Kaiyil Kuzhaludan’ in Tamil was a bonus.
Atana was chosen for RTP by Nithyashree. The raga suited her way of singing with excessive authoritative phrases and stretched out soprano sancharas. The pallavi ‘Kanaga Sabhapathikku’ was in Khanda Triputa . Here the swara section turned out to be a medley of innumerable ragas to the point of being absolutely crowded.
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M.A Krishnaswami was all supportive of the vocalist’s ventures and confined himself to minimal play. However, he came to the fore in the swara sections.
Neyveli Skandasubramaniam on the mridangam and A.S. Krishnan on the morsing added value to the concert and their brisk tani avarthanam was commendable.