Lalgudi Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi@SKGS on Aug 14th ,2011

[rajeshnat]

Lalgudi Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi@SKGS on Aug 14th ,2011
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Violin : Lalgudi GJR Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi
Mrudangam : Trichy Sankaran
Claypot : Ghatam Suresh

Concert duration/Day : 2 hours and 50 minutes(inclusive of 10 minutes speech) / Sunday
Occassion : GokulAkshtami Series

1. varnam "karunimpA" - sahAnA - Thiruvottiyur Thyagarajar
2. sambho mahadeva - bowli - neelakanta sivan

3. shree venkatesham (RS,S) - phalamanjari - Patnam
8 mins swaras
4. parama pavanA (R N S)- poorvikalyAni - Poochi
7 mins of Alapana and neraval each , 11 mins swaras
5. santhAnagOpalakrishnam - khamAs - MD

GokulAshtami is in my opinion the best concert series , SKGS is a lovely sabhA and the cane chairs gives a lot of relaxation to our spine. SKGS sabha traditionally is a bastion for lalgudi school. Atleast most/all of the lalgudi sishyas are performing in this series . Incidentally 2 days before it was Smt shankari krishnan, day before yesterday saketaraman and yesterday it was Lalgudi siblings.

As I entered SKGS thru the crowded streets, I was just thinking may be the artist will not reach in time, as there was a heavy crowd in the opposite muppatHammA koil with many of them participating in Adi thiruvizha , but was glad to see the artist in the stage at near the start time of the concert(kudos to their professionalism).

sahAnA karunimpa is a varnam that gives a soothing experience and with me settling in the cane chairs it was double soothing. Lalgudi school has a style of even accentuating not just the vallinam phrases but even the subtle mellinam phrases . With sahana giving a great start the rare bowli of neelakantha sivan was really well played and the soothing SPA experience continued.

A contrasting fast number phalamanjari gave a lot of oppurtunity for strokes for this strokeful wonder trichy sankaran who was in a roll . The submain alapana in poorvikalyani was taken up by Viji and was well played , the krithi , neraval and swaras were precise and very elegant showcasing Lalgudi patantara.The filler in santhanagopalakrishnam was well played.

[rajeshnat]

6A. dAchukOvalenA (R S T) - tOdi - T
21 mins alapana and 10 mins swaras
6B. tani for 20 mins

Speech break to honour the newest sangeetha kalAnidhi

7. pArukullE nalla nAdu - JOnpuri - mahakavi bharathiyAr
8. rAmachandra prabhO - sindubhairavi - ST
9. krishna nee bhEganE - yamunAkalyAni - vyasarAya tirthA

10. teerAtha vilAyattu - rAgamAligai(sindhubhairavi + ,,,, + shanmugapriyA + mAnd) - mahakavi bharathiyAr
11. thillAnA - madhuvanti - LGJ
12. pavamAna

The main in todi was not the best of the duo's play. The alapana was bit longish and there was a bit of repetition.Viji sandwiched in between long plays of Krishnan in the alapana. The krithi was started very well and in the swaras there was only kanakku swaras which was bit too long ,that too with it not continuing with sarvalagu was not in line with my taste. Too much kanakku in todi served as a platform for the splendid and wonderful tani as the two ace percussionist continued with nearly the same sangathis in their first round.

In the tukkadas parukalle was really pepped up number , the ramachandra prabhO was Very good . The krishna begane BarO started meditatively had few sangathis which were quite different than what I have heard before towards the end .

A rasika asked the famous ragamAliga teerAtha vilayattu which really showcases their wonderful school , there is so much of touch of mellinam and vallinam(subtleness and stress) style of bowing. I and semmu(aravind) were seated next to each other and was just contemplating to shout for madhuvanti tillana, but the siblings had telepathy receiver in them . They announced and played that extraordinary madhuvanti tillana of LGJ

Trichy sankaran and ghatam Suresh:
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I and definitely semmu86(aravind) were there to hear not just the siblings but more the legendary Trichy sankaran . His controlled aggression was really superb especially in the neraval and swaras of poorvikalyAni .The tani especially in the farhan that followed after kuraippu was simply superb.Ghatam Suresh gave able support and was the best in tani in mishra jampai which semmu says Trichy Sankaran excels.How sankaran gives a quick toppi and within a wink gives a roll in a right is just beyond words for me. Semmu will help me on his percussion insights.

Overall barring todi main everything was really excellent. This was my second experience of hearing the siblings live . Shri Y prabhu honoured new SK designate and both TS and GJRK spoke briefly.There was a big portrait of paramacharyA presented by SKGS to TS .

Incidentally Y prabhu was mentioning that Sangeetha choodamani was awarded to TS in 1984 and SKGS had celebrated his 50 years of playing in 2006. The crowd was just 150 to 200 and it was overall a very good to excellent concert for 2 hours and 45 minutes(inclusive of accolade break for TS sir .)

[semmu86]

The three days long weekend in Chennai was made memorable by two outstanding concerts. This one and the preceeding Vedavalli mami's at Narada Gana Sabha for Charsur (Shall write a review about that if no one pens it down).. If Vedavalli mami's scintillating dhanyAsi was the highlight at NGS, the brilliant khamas played by Krishnan at KGS, made my day.. The "Not so often heard khamas krithi" was just beautifully played, which was one of the regulars in the LGJ-Srimathi duets in good old days, esp in the KGS..

By chance i had a look at the paper in a typically lazy Sunday morning and was lucky to have caught both the lovely concerts, esp Sankaran Sir. As usual TS was in top form and played beautifully throughout. The misra jhampa thani was in a class of his own, with the trademark Sankeerna koraippu with all the varieties. Ghatam Suresh played excellently.

Y Prabhu also mentioned, how KGS was one of the first institutions to honour TS many years ago. Incidentally, KGS's inaugural concert in 1955 had GNB with LGJ and PSP/TS in double mrudangam.

Thanks to Rajesh for this review and a lovely Sunday evening overall..

[arasi]

Thanks, reviewing duo, for writing about a duet concert!

Semmu,
Good to hear that you could take in two concerts--it so happens that you tend to miss Bengaluru concerts while you're in Chennai and the Chennai ones when you are in B'luru!

Great to hear about the SK designate and his superb playing.
It's a long time since I've heard Suresh. He's a very good player and I wonder why he's not seen that much during the season--or, I'm missing the concerts which feature him!

[mahavishnu]

Wonderful songlist, including a rare Patnam composition in phalamanjari. After the alapana I would have expected sanAtanA, so this should have been a good surprise.

And TS's nAdham in the 3 kattai sruti must have been a delight. And a misra jhampai tani no less!

Arasi, Ghatam Suresh is very active on the concert circuit, probably one of the most sought after upapakkavadhyam artistes by senior mridangists like TS, Karaikudi Mani and TVG. I am surprised that your paths didn't cross more often last season. Suresh also does a lot of music arranging etc.

And yes, the KGS auditorium is quite nice after the facelift in recent years and acoustics are quite ok; atleast it is now soundproofed so one can't hear the loudspeakers playing a very shrill LR Easwari from the muppathamman temple. The koodai chairs are from another era, but very comfortable nonetheless. The street and the T Nagar traffic are not so pleasant.

[srikant1987]

Good to hear that you could take in two concerts--it so happens that you tend to miss Bengaluru concerts while you're in Chennai and the Chennai ones when you are in B'luru!

B'luru tends to be more sensitive to weekend/holidays as a good time to keep concerts ... probably the reason Semmu misses them. I saw Semmu leave as the gamakakriya piece ended in RV's concert, but couldn't grab his attention.

[gardabha_gana]

hey srikant - have you migrated to madras?

[rajeshnat]

Arasi, Ghatam Suresh is very active on the concert circuit, probably one of the most sought after upapakkavadhyam artistes by senior mridangists like TS, Karaikudi Mani and TVG. I am surprised that your paths didn't cross more often last season. Suresh also does a lot of music arranging etc.

Mahavishnu
In chennai atleast ,Karaikudi mani plays only 2 or 3 concerts a year and I dont see that much of percussion of TVG too. Ghatam Suresh used to play more frequently say till 2009 or so , for the last few years his frequency is certainly in the lower side at chennai for sure . I am assuming he travels quite frequently on international tours. He is a really great artist , almost no occassion I have heard him buckling under pakkavadhyam artist, which I heard thru grapevine may possibly explain his not that high frequency.

[semmu86]

B'luru tends to be more sensitive to weekend/holidays as a good time to keep concerts ... probably the reason Semmu misses them. I saw Semmu leave as the gamakakriya piece ended in RV's concert, but couldn't grab his attention.

Exactly.. Am in Chennai on almost all weekends and tend to miss out the B'luru ones.. Srikant, you could have pinged me. But alas i had to catch someone play at the KGS

[semmu86]

almost no occassion I have heard him buckling under pakkavadhyam artist

The main reason why he is not seen frequently with the top percussion regulars... :@

[kssr]

Rajeshnat: When did Ghatam become a claypot Hope it is not indicative of the nadham

Lalgudi siblings always present very satisfactory concerts. Hats off to them.

[Nick H]

I too am missing Suresh in regular concerts. I can hardly remember the last time I saw him (webcast, playing opposite tavil, last summer?). In the past few years it would have been most often with TS, in concerts during the season. They seem to have a regular understanding, and, as has been mentioned, Suresh will never be found wanting when it comes to his replies: His understanding, and its conversion to musicality, is always right on the spot.

I wonder if I will get to see TS play during this visit.

[rajeshnat]

Review of SVK for the same concert.
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article2369222.ece

[mahavishnu]

SVK = all words and no substance.