Supported by M.R. Gopinath on the violin and R. Ramesh on the mridangam, Vijay Gopal began his flute recital at the Brahma Gana Sabha Trust with a lively ‘Gopalaka Pahimam’ in Revagupti.
The raga essay that preceded the Janaranjani kriti ‘Pahimam Sri Rajarajeswari’ was quite appealing. It was nice to listen to the alapana of Simhendramadhyamam after a long time; the raga swung up and down smoothly with some evocative prayogams.
The kriti ‘Kamakshi Kamakotipeetavasini’ had kalpanaswaras for the pallavi. A racy ‘Garudagamana’ in Nagaswaravali came up, before he began the main raga: Mohanam. The alapana, particularly at the lower range with the bansuri was very appealing. The swara segment for the charanam line ‘Mohana Rama’ was also attractive.
Vijay Gopal uses some western techniques like trilling particularly while playing swaras, which lent variety and beauty. Gopinath’s violin support was adequate. Ramesh’s thani was fascinating. The final Tiruppugazh in Sindhubhairavi conjured up a mild dreamy feeling.
MUDICONDAN RAMESH
The most significant aspects of Ramesh’s veena recital were his raga alapanas. Though, never very long, they touched the core characteristics of each raga effectively. For instance, Nattai with which he began: ‘Mahaganapatim,’ of Muthuswamy Dikshitar had swaras for the pallavi. Similarly the essays of Ritigowla prefixing ‘Nannuvidachi’ as also ‘Chandrajyothi’ before ‘Sasivadana’ (both Tyagaraja kritis) brought out the essence of the ragas.
Ramesh also sang along at times, so that one could also appreciate the mood of the songs. He charmed the audience with ‘Saranam Bhava,’ a Tarangam in Hamsavinodini, particularly with the lively swarakalpana of this Panchamavarjya Janya of Sankarabharanam.
At times, the sound of the mridangam by Chidambaram Balashankar overwhelmed the veena. ‘Jambupathe’ in Yamunakalyani was a neat presentation and also ‘Janakiramana’ in Suddhaseemanthini with swaras for ‘Rakthanalinadala’. Ramesh’s portrayal of Kharaharapriya, the main raga, was nuanced and preceded ‘Chakkani Raja Margamu.’ The swaras for ‘Kandikisundara’ had interesting korvais.
The thani by Balashankar and Madipakkam Shankar (ghatam) was a thrilling one. The concert got over with ‘Manadirkugandadu’ in Sindhubhairavi, ‘Eppo Varuvaro’ in Jhonpuri and ‘Pathiki Harathire’ in Surutti.
VISALAKSHI NITYANANDAN
The alapana of Hamirkalyani by Visalakshi was exceptional The singing of the ‘akara’ was more in the Hindustani style befitting the raga and it just took one’s breath away. It was followed by Swati Tirunal’s ‘Gaangeyavasanatha’ which she rendered without hurrying so that one could still savour the alapana. She was a bit shaky with the Kalyani varnam and ‘Entaro Mahanubhavulu’ with which she began the concert.
The last letter of most words and some notes were silent as in the French language! After ‘Paarvai Onre Podume’ in Surutti, the rendering of the Tamil verse in Mohanam was indeed very good, prefixing ‘Arumugam.’ Her handling of the niraval and swaras for ‘Pazhanivazh Kumarane’ was quite different from the usual method. The alapana of Khambodi had several touches of the nagaswara bani and was on the whole interesting. S.P. Ananthapadmanabhan on the violin was quite decent in all his efforts. The kriti ‘Evarimata’ had niraval at ‘Bhaktapradeenudanusu,’ and in the swaras there were quite a few slips. Raghunatha Rajaram on the mridangam was reasonably good. On the thani though, he faltered a little at the beginning but later it was decent. ‘Varasikhivahana’ in Supradeepam also found a place in the recital. The concert concluded with ‘Karpagame’ in Madhyamavati.
