Tender violin, gentle support

THERE WAS a lesson to be drawn from the overflowing audience in the Raga Sudha Hall to the programme of Carnatica Archival Centre and Nada Inbam of remembering M. D. Ramanathan through a short video presentation of a cutcheri of his in the Seventies preceded by a violin solo of T. N. Krishnan, accompanied by Guruvayoor Dorai on the mridangam and N. Govindarajan (ghatam). It was that there is a good reservoir of sensitive listeners who still crave for music. If such a large number of rasikas do not attend today's performances by the present generation artistes, it would not be far wrong to conclude that today they do not find the touch of class that they expect as from the old veterans.

It was just for an hour that T. N. Krishnan played and one almost felt the satisfaction of having heard a four-hour concert of the olden days. If a stimulating rendering of songs provide the pleasurable experience in understanding the vaggeyakara's creative depth, Krishnan provided it in the three pieces ``Endaro Mahaanubhavulu'' (Sri) ``Entaraani'' (Harikambhoji) and ``Janani Ninnu Vina'' (Ritigowla). Sheer lyricism and sweet melodiousness were the sheet-anchor of his playing technique. A stream of delicate aesthetics ran through the alapanas of Harikambhoji and Ritigowla, which served to underline that music has to be felt both by the performer and the listener, and there is very little intellectual space in it. In his delineation of Ritigowla, blending the mellifluous with the dexterous, there was tenderness in every sanchara.

Guruvayoor Dorai seemed to place before the listeners that in the play of mridangam there is as much tenderness as in Krishnan's violin. Ghatam, as played by Govindarajan, was equally gentle.

The video presentation of M. D. Ramanathan's recital was a house concert at Chennai. In his deep tone, admirable vilambakala pacing and spacing, his interpretation was marked by nobility and beguilingly musical finesse. He never handled a raga or a song without heightening its emotional content. In tone, he was ravishing and in rendering a raga there was musical amplitude in brevity. The packed rasikas would certainly have felt that it was inspiring and elevating to share MDR's commanding heights of excellence.

Homage

As homage to Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan whose Day was observed by Narada Gana Sabha, Suguna Varadachari framed her concert based on the compositions of the great vidwan, some familiar and others not so well-known. Of the former, the Janaranjani kirtana ``Pahi Maam Sri Rajeswari'' provided the start of the concert and the Begada piece, ``Kadaikkan Vaiththennai'' evoked listener interest. The Begada alapana served to stress the characteristic contours of the raga, was equally well brought out by violinist S. Varadarajan. The familiarity of the sahityas to some extent struck a responsive chord. Later, the elaboration of Kalyani and Todi was sombre in impact. The sancharas had smooth ascent and descent. Though routinely impassive there was warmth and sincerity in expressiveness. The simple and straight approach conferred a sense of dignity on the ragavinyasas, the vocalist proclaiming her disinclination to accommodate changing sensibilities in music. The violinist with great sobriety responded in an equal measure of sincerity.

The Kalyani song was ``Neeye-manamagizhvodu'' and the Todi item was ``Ananda Natesa''. The mridangam accompanist, Thanjavur Subramanian, breathing the mood of the performance, well muffled his laya beats.

- SVK

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