Violin Duo concert by Lalgudi GJR Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi
Patri Satish Kumar - Mridangam
Tirupanitura Radhakrishnan - Ghatam
Bilahari - I though San Diego was your territory. So didn't bother to take a paper and a pen, and was awaiting your review. Usually, there is not much to add after what you say
So, here is a very very approximate songlist from my memory -
1. Varnam - asaveri - ??
2. kadavulai maravadhe - taandavam - dandapaani desikar - short sketch+swarams
3. kamalaamba sam rakshatu - Ananda bhairavi - MD - A + kriti
4. Seethapathe - khamas - T - A + neraval@premajoochi napai ..
5. A filler
6. ? - Shankarabharanam - ? - A
7. Amba paradevate - Rudrapriya - T - A + swarams
8. karuna joodavamma - thodi - T - A + neraval@? + thani avarthanam
9. RTP Ranjani - devi brova samayamide ??
7 beats on laghu (Adi + 2) + usual dritham
Ragamaalika swarams in - Sahana + Dhanyasi + ? + ?
10. Nan oru vilayatu - navarasa kaanada
11. ?
12. baro krishnayya - mand - PD
13. ?
14. Thillana
15. Mangalam
Well, bilahari said it. It was indeed a fabulous performance. They stuck the perfect chord right from the varnam and continued it through the concert. The taandavam piece was in memory of Dandapani desikar's 100th birth anniversary. It was a beutiful piece. Their next anandabharavi was one of the highlights of this concert - it was so, sO, SO beautiful. GJR played the alapana with the perfect tempo and slowness that AB should be played with. Nothing very unique, but more about hitting the perfect spacing, speed and notes. It was followed by the Dikshitar masterpiece which is quite underplayed in concerts (as opposed to mari vere), at least in my experience. The shankarabharana alapana was good and kriti was quite rare (anyone remember it?). For me, the next highlight was Amba paradevate. There was a long swara exchange between the lalgudi siblings, and both the mridangist and ghatam player excelled here. In fact, patri would anticipate every move that vijayalakshmi made and this elicited a lot of "smile exchanges" between them (this holds for the concert in general). The MAIN (thodi) as well as the thani was good. It was almost 3 hours into the concert - GJR asked the audience if they wanted a RTP (I wish everyone does this), and there was a resounding YES. The thanam was disappointingly short, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. The sahana swaram was particularly enjoyable. Going by the reduced volume of oohs and aahs for the last two ragas, I am assuming they are not very popular.
On the whole, a very enjoyable evening. This concert was sponsored by Dr. C.M. Venkatachalam, and he said at the end of the concert that he would be sponsoring them next year too. I am already looking forward!
