It was delightful to see a sizeable turnout at Chitravina artiste Vishal R Sapuram’s afternoon concert, since instrumental recitals generally draw fewer rasikas.
The contribution of Thirumarugal S. Dinesh Kumar on the violin deserves special mention. Dinesh’s intelligent repartees to Vishal’s raga essays, niraval, tanam and swara posers were quite enjoyable.
‘Sindhithavar’ in Nattai by Oothukkadu Venkata Subbaiyer with a few swara strings made for an energetic launch. ‘Nee bhajana gana’ in Nayaki (Tyagaraja) was played in all its piety. In detailing a soft raga like Lalitha, Vishal Sapuram took care to elicit the best phrases and paint a fascinating portrait of the raga. Dikshitar’s poignant ‘Hiranmayeem lakshmim’ was the composition chosen. Here, his kizhkala swaras were sublime while the fast-paced melkala sojourn centered upon shadjam.
A quick rendition of Tyagaraja’s ‘Paraloka’ in Purvikalyani led to the exhaustive essay of Madhyamavati. The tanam also was substantial. String instruments sound well when playing tanam. The pallavi ‘Ramam bhajare triloka’ set in Adi talam was followed by the mandatory niraval and trikalam. The swara section turned into an enthusiastic dual between Vishal and Dinesh. The ragamalika swaras came in Amritavarshini and Kapi.
The closing piece was a Sindhubhairavi tillana of Oothukkadu Venkata Subbaiyer. B.C. Manjunath on the mridangam lent able support and the tani avartanam session showcased his rhythmic skills.
