T.N. Krishnan Trio - MA - 25th Dec 2010

[bilahari]

T.N. Krishnan – Violin
Viji Krishnan
Sriram Krishnan
Tiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam – Mrudangam
Vaikom Gopalakrishnan – Ghatam

Approximate Songlist:

01. entO prEma (varNam) (S @ caraNam) – suruTTi – Adi
02. brOva bArama (N @ kalaSAmbudilo, S) – bahudAri – Adi
03. manasA eTulO (R, N @ kalilO rAjasa, S) – malayamArutam – rUpakam
04. srIkAnta nI (S @ pallavi) – bhAvapriya – Adi
05. vinarAda nA manavI (R) – dEvagandAri – dESAdi
06. rAgam tAnam pallavi (Thani) – bhairavi – Adi (2) (eDuppu samam + ½)
rAgamAliga swaras in bilahari, kAnaDa, and kApi
07. Jingle Bells
08. vangAkaDal (R) – suruTTi – rUpaka cApu
09. saravaNa bhava – SaNmugapriya – Adi
10. English Note – HMB
11. bAgyada lakSmi bAramma

After Smt. Suguna Varadachari’s lecdem, I headed to the main hall for TNK’s concert. The concert began with a lilting varNam in suruTTi, with the pUrvAngam played in two speeds. There were beautiful kalpanaswaras to the caraNam, and the poruttam here was remarkable. I was pleasantly surprised when TNK took up brOva bArama – it has been a while since I’ve heard this krithi live. TB’s left side play during the krithi rendition was a nice embellishment. The violinists played a thorough neraval at the caraNam, with Sriram’s final round of second speed sequences played with impeccable cut bowing earning a round of applause. The kalpanaswaras caught fire with sequences surrounding DND, with a nice GMPDN D,D, followed by GMPDN N,N, and finally GMPDN S, S,.

The first elaborate alapanai was of malayamArutam, which is another raga I have not heard much live. TNK started the alapanai and let Sriram take it to its conclusion, and Sriram did a good job. He has a good sense of kAlapramANam when playing alapanais, and there is great fluency in his sangathis (especially as he ascends into the upper octave). A comprehensive neraval followed in kalilO rAjasa with the immaculate sAhitya shuddam that defines the TNK school. I enjoyed the kalpanaswaras with a pleasing accent on the nishAdam in the phrase DN,,DPG,,. There was a beautiful kOrvai at the end, too. TNK then presented an old SSI favourite – srIkAnta nI. The krithi was played very beautifully and there were elaborate kalpanaswaras with TNK taking the lead. It is nice to hear some of these rarer krithis dusted off by TNK and I hope he continues doing it (that sAkEta nikEtana on Friday was beautiful, too).

TNK then presented a sublime dEvagAndAri ragam by himself. It is always special to hear TNK play by himself – there are brilliant pauses, perfect shruti shuddam (which is all the more necessary in ragas with elongated notes like dEvagAndAri’s gA), and there is great elegance in the way he develops a raga. Even though TNK’s children play well and have imbibed much of his art (and the same is true with Narmada), TNK (and MSG) still have a unique insight into the art that their children have not been privy to, and it really shows in their playing. TNK was clearly flooded by memories of SSI that morning, and out came vinarAda nA. I love this krithi and thoroughly enjoyed the team’s presentation. I particularly love TNK’s krithi renditions – they are shorn of gimmickry and needless sangathis and are very clean and pure.

Bhairavi was taken up for RTP. The trio shared the ragam and it was, of course, exceedingly good. However, I often felt a sense of direction was missing in the development of the raga, with Viji now exploring the madhya rishabam and Sriram the next minute going up to the tAra shadjam, etc. This is an inherent problem with all these trio concerts – each musician’s ideas are different, and when rapidly alternating, none of them sees his or her ideas through to completion and the entropy of the music rises consequently. Nevertheless, the ragam was filled with lovely phrases and I loved the plain RGMGR Viji played somewhere. The tAnam, too, was elaborate and excellent, with the ma-ending phrases Sriram and TNK played reminiscent of SSI. TNK got a hearty round of applause with a sublime, fast tAnam round he played with great intensity that reminded me of his accompaniment to the stalwarts – it started suddenly with the forceful G,R (G taken from way up), G,R type phrases and pierced the heart of the rAgam immediately. Unfortunately, he did not play tAnam or ragam in mandra stayi – his lower octave playing is always outstanding. The tAnam took a Parur turn and ended with some cross-string bowing. On this day, Sriram’s bowing and fingering were better than Viji’s. She struggled a bit to bow evenly throughout the concert and her fast sequences didn’t have the clarity of TNK and Sriram.

The pallavi featured an elaborate neraval (of god knows what sahitya...coming straight out of SV’s lecdem, I really wished the pallavi had been sung) with a particularly good exploration of the tAra rishabam. There was great intensity here and I enjoyed the neraval a lot. Throughout the concert, there was competitive spirit between the siblings as one would play and earn applause, spurring the other on. Often, one of the two would play a long round of swaras or neraval and earn applause, and I’d think that would be the end – and then the other would continue. I have no complaints – music stands to gain from such friendly competition!
The swaras were mostly in other ragams. I was happy when TNK started bilahari, but he also put a premature end to it, much to my chagrin. Viji played an OK kAnaDa and TNK became impatient and took over, giving it great touches, and Viji continued in the same vein. Sriram’s kApi conclusion featured an extensive round of those fast cut bowing swaras with a big kOrvai and although he earned plenty of applause (remember speed = applause), I thought poor, delicate kApi really suffered. Consistently in these trio programs, I notice a tendency for Sriram and Viji to use cross string bowing and fast cut bowing for almost every piece. To me, resorting to such gimmickry represents a lack of ideas. Especially in ragas like bhairavi, which have so much musical value and depth, it seems insensible to me to play these boring things. However, compared to two years ago, the trio has improved significantly – they no longer cut in loudly, they do not repeat each other’s sangatis (like accompaniment), and the pauses that are important to TNK’s music have been reinstated as a result. The sowkhyam of their music has improved a lot.

TB and VG played the thani here. I was impressed by TB’s playing throughout the morning – he seems to understand TNK’s music perfectly and he embellished krithis very beautifully and had impeccable anticipation during neravals and kalpanaswaras. His left side play was very good this morning. The first round of his thani was a bit long and convoluted, but there was probably some intiricate kaNakku I failed to grasp. VG was good as well – both have been accompanying TNK since god knows when. They make a great team.

TNK goes into two modes, it seems, after the main item. He either plays probing alapanais in ragas like nIlAmbari and sindhu bhairavi and suruTTi or he finishes off with a light note and eppo varuvArO. It was a bit jarring to hear jingle bells after two hours of music steeped in classicism (every single piece before the thani had elaborate manOdharma). I even heard some mumblings behind me of “nammalAm enna Christians-ah enna” (are we all Christians or what!), but I don’t take quite such a drastic view. And then TNK and Viji played a nice suruTTi ragam and a composition I couldn’t identify.

It is true that TNK does appear tired and does not play continuously for a long time, but he still seems to be well in command on stage – his bhairavi tAnam and dEvagAndAri ragam are proof that his technique has not diminished by much (in fact, his technique is still better than that of both his children) and his music is entirely intact.

It was another beautiful concert with great sowkhyam and the full house audience delivered a standing ovation at the end.

[semmu86]

Number 8 is "vangakkaDal kaDaindha mAdhavanai" - thiruppAvai- AndAL.... and it is in Rupaka chApu thAlam.

[bilahari]

Thanks, Arvind.