As Madras Chamber Orchestra (MCO) is preparing itself for the 40th anniversary concert, its conductor Bernard Wacheux felt that passion and feeling set the music of Indians apart.
Mr. Wacheux, a violinist by training and president of the French branch of ESTA (European String Teachers Association), said though musicians in many countries were technically very sound, Indians had an intense feel for music and it was expressed when they play instruments.
Mr. Wacheux, who has worked with Sir Yehudi Menuhin and helped reviving the MCO in 2008, is in Chennai for a rehearsal of the 40th anniversary MCO to he held in the Museum Theatre on October 31.
“The musicians who are part of the MCO are very talented. Every year, I am seeing great improvement in their presentation. My ambition is to elevate them to further heights,” said the French soloist, who in 2014 composed a song in memory of Indians killed in the First World War.
Ever since he established the link with MCO, Mr. Wacheux has been visiting India twice a year and stays in Puducherry.
Though he knows Indian violinist L. Subramaniam well and is teaching his son, he does not claim to possess knowledge of Carnatic music.
Jerry Fernandes, the leading violinist of the MCO, said though western violinists were in all parts of the country, particularly in Mumbai, Kolkata and Kerala, when it came to the string instruments family, Chennai was the capital.
Mr. Fernandes attributed the trend to the presence recording centres since the 1930s and recording of music for all the South Indian language films.
“But today only very a few students are coming forward to learn western violin and it is very difficult to master the instrument. The entry of computer and keyboards, capable of producing music of all instruments, also contributed to the trend. Even those who learn the instrument drop out in the middle,” said Mr. Fernandes, who has composed a rhapsody in Carnatic raga ‘mayamalavagowla and ‘pantuvarali’ for the annual concert, which will begin with a vocal recital of Franz Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’ by Lois Priscilla Samuel.
