N Ravikiran & Lalgudi GJR Krishnan -Jugalbandi @ KGS :20.12 2017

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Jugalbandi @ sri Krishna Gana Sabha

N Ravikiran - Chitraveena
Lalgudi GJR Krishnan- Violin
Srimushnam Raja Rao-Mridangam
Madipakam Murali-Ghatam

Sruti 5.5 (G*)

Kutcheri started at 4 pm with Varnam in Reetigoula (composer RK). Swaminatha paripalayaasumaam followed with excellent swaraprastara @ Vamadeva..

Now aalapana of Shanmukhapriya in progress.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

The Shanmukhapriya kriti is 'Aandavaney' of Papanasam Sivan. Beautiful swaraprastaras.

Now it's Saveri Aalaapana by GJR.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

After a relaxed rendering of Muruga Muruga (P Thooran) for Saveri, it is a detailed Aalaapana of Kalyani shared by RK & GJR. Alternating bhava-laden phrases by the vidwans. The kriti is Enduko neemanasu of Tyagaraja.

Perfect acoustics. Excellent percussion.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Neraval was at Tyagaraja hrdayasadaya followed by brilliant kalpanaswaras. Fine camaraderie.
Tani was very good and enjoyable. It was 6.30 and
as the next program (dance) was in wait to begin at 7 the curtains came down after the main.
A good, sampradayic presentation by the young maestros .

[arasi]

I am still not in Chennai

[thanjavooran]

Shri Sivaramakrishnan,
Excellent ! As usual crisp review. Many thanks.
With wishes,
Thanjavooran
20 12 2017

[Sivaramakrishnan]

The Ghatam accompaniment was by S V RAMANI (and not Madipakkam Murali as I had posted inadvertently).

[iamsundar]

A slightly different perspective from an ardent fan of Ravikiran & GJR:

For a star-studded line up, the concert fell short of expectations. The concert started with Ravikiran's own Reetigowla varnam, followed by Ditshithar's Swaminatha Paripaalaya in Naatai. It took a while for the concert to warm up (partly due to mike issues), before Ravikiran & GJR lit up the audience with their Shanmukapriya(Andavane) and Saveri(Muruga Muruga). Solid Kalyani followed by an engaging Thani.

While there were pregnant sparks of brilliance, the overall energy was rather low all through. Srimushnam, of course, was cracking, but there were times where his off-beats nadais were candidly a bit distracting.

Overall, it was a pleasant 2.5 hours, although I’ve enjoyed better RK and GJR concerts.