Lalgudi GJR Krishnan - Violin Solo at IIT Bombay

[arunsri]

As part of the SPIC MACAY series, Vid. Lalgudi G.J.R. Krishnan presented a violin recital on the evening of 29th Sept, 2012 at IIT Bombay

Lalgudi Shri. G.J.R. Krishnan - Violin
Shri. J. Vaidyanathan - Mridangam
Shri. S. Venkataraman - Kanjeera

Time: Approx 1 hr 40 mins, Venue: Convocation Hall, IIT Bombay

1. varnam - garuDadhwani - Adi - lAlguDI jayarAman
2. teliyalEru rAma - dhEnukA - Adi - thyAgarAja (S)
3. entani vina vinturA - UrmikA - tishra gati Adi - pallavi sEshayyar (R, S at pantamu Ela nApai)
4. kA guhA shaNmugA - kOsalam - rUpakam - kOTishwara iyEr (R)
5. sAkshi lEdanuchu or munupE teliyaka - bangALa - Adi - thyAgarAja
6. dEvashrI taptasthIrtha - madhyamAvati - mishra chApu - thyAgarAja (R, S at pAvana pravridha....)
7. tani Avaratanam
8. annapUrnE - sAma - Adi - muthuswAmy dIkshitar
9. ?? - rAgamAlika 9BAgEshri, hamsanAdam, Ahir bhairav) - Adi - subrahmaNya bhArati
10. tillAna - sindhubhairavi - Adi - lAlguDi jayarAman

Nice concert, however the surgical precision that is usually seen in the school was not 100% there. Vid. Krishnan should have announced the starting words of the kriti so that people carry back some words associated with the kriti (or even look up the sahitya later on), merely announcing "a composition of thyAgaraja in adi tala" does not serve the purpose.. for this reason, I was unable to identify the bangALa kriti or the rAgamAlika. JV supported the main artiste extremely well, while the kanjeera artiste was subdued in his support.

[mahesh3]

Devashri is a Lalgudi composition - no?

[Lakshman]

dEvashrI tapastIrtha is one of the Lalgudi pancaratnas by Tyagaraja.

[mahavishnu]

dEvashrI tapastIrtha is one of the Lalgudi pancaratnas by Tyagaraja.

Yes and it is believed that Tyagaraja composed these pancharatnas when he came to Lalgudi (tapastIrtha pura) upon the invitation of his student Sri Lalgudi Rama Iyer (great, great grandfather of LGJ). So this song is a particular Lalgudi family favourite. And they play it so well!

Perhaps this is why the LGJ school excels in madhyamavati in general!

The Bharathi song is most probably: Muruga Muruga. It definitely has bagesri and hamsanadam. However it does not have ahir bhairav.

[arasi]

Mahavishnu,
We are familiar with sthala purANams. Here we see how the sthalam, the kruthi and the musicians born in the place--all come together. Great to hear of this than the stuff guides unload on us in certain temples!

[Lakshman]

The version I have lists bhImpalAs for pallavi, shivaranjani for anupallavi, bAgEshrI and shuddhasArang for the two caraNAs.

[mahavishnu]

Lji, this is the version I had in mind, sung by SP Ramh (in the Lalgudi mArgam).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqwrADmvYSo

[Lakshman]

Thanks mahavishnu. I guess there are several audio versions of this song. One by Lalgudi (at sangeethapriya.org) uses bAgEshrI, shivaranjani and hamsanAda.

[mahavishnu]

Yes Lji. I believe that is the same one that SP Ramh's recording is faithful to. However, the shivaranjani is probably a misra-sivaranjani (it has the odd Madhyamam in it)...

[mahesh3]

Thanks Vishnu sir - I did not know that the Lalgudi pancharatnams were composed by Thyagaraja - I love this Madhyamavati but Thodi is totally my favorite of the 5...

[mahavishnu]

Mahesh: One of the best versions of the pancaratnams is with LGJ himself singing with his disciples (SP Ramh, Bombay Jayashree) in the late 80s with GJR, Vittal on violin; Jayanthi (nee Radhakrishnan) Kumaresh on veenai and a very young Sanjay Subrahmanyan on vocal support. Sanjay actually learnt these compositions directly from Lalgudi.

They did a mini-tour of performances as a group and I was fortunate to hear this ensemble live at Krishna Gana Sabha.

The pancaratnams just shine in this rendition, and the tODi piece "gati nIvani nE kOri" is simply stellar. The album used to be available commercially through AVM audio.

[semmu86]

There is a commercial release of his 1967 duet concert (With Srimathi Brahmanandam) @ KGS with UKS/ Alalgudi Ramachandran, having all the Lalgudi Pancharatnams. A beautiful concert starting with the rarely heard reetigOwLai aTa thALa varnam.

[mahesh3]

SP Ramh is a wonderfu, highly underrated musician - his raga bhaavam is so stellar. I don't really listen to Bombay Jaishri, tho I am familiar with the tape u mention. My own favorite - no surprise, ofcourse - is Abhishek Raghuram's album singing this - released about 4 years ago by Charsur!

[gardabha_gana]

Madhyamavathi by LGJ is simply stellar. Gati Nivani and Lalithe are my favorite Pancharatna krithis. Lalgudi family play the pancharatnas often. There is a youtube recording of Gati Nivani of LGJ & LV on the Vocals!

[GNB_LGJ_PR]

There is a commercial release of his 1967 duet concert (With Srimathi Brahmanandam) @ KGS with UKS/ Alalgudi Ramachandran, having all the Lalgudi Pancharatnams. A beautiful concert starting with the rarely heard reetigOwLai aTa thALa varnam.

What a great concert that is - would rate as one of the best concerts of all time!!!