Independent, authoritative
B.R.C. IYENGAR
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Sundar imbibed his guru's style but manages to create an independent path too.
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R. Sundar
The concert of R. Sundar, a professional in the United States and a disciple of Seshagoplan, arranged by Kalasagaram needs applause. He has imbibed the style of his guru and has added something of his own to make it a little independent and even authoritative. His music is young; his rich voice has its pliability, depth and compass to accommodate lofty ideas and manipulate them to the best of musical interest. However, needless body language, a little excess of speed and a tendency towards undesirable and unhealthy padachedam (breaking of the lyrical content at wrong places) wedges in quite often, and to that extent, the concert loses its polish.
In terms of alapana, the planning is reasonably good. As for swarakalpana, it is just general and not devoid of richly rehearsed koruvais, extending beyond rational limits. For instance in the exercise for the krithi, Meenakshi me mudam in Poorvikalyani, the thirmanam extended to eight avarthas. For what purpose, it is hard to say. It is the order of the day to offer vociferous applause for such meaningless accomplishments. The man in the street, fails to understand even a syllable of it. Exaggeration of technique becomes spiritually impotent; the epic becomes dramatic; it loses the unity of continuity and becomes more and more narrative.
The selection was judicious and the sequence evocative. After the varnam in Sahana, the krithi, hiranmayi of Dikshithar in Lalitha moved the audience, although the kalapramanm was a wee bit faster than designed. The alapana of Rithigowla and the following song janaj ninnuvian was captivating. Kripa juchutaku velara in Chayathrangini was a prelude to Poorvikalyani (meenaksime mudam) which was elaborate and exhaustive, but it was to a great extent marred by overplaying of swarakalpana. The concert was decorated with RTP in Saveri set to khandajathi thriputa thalam. It was an attractive exposition backed by imagination, scholarship and vision, but again there was overplaying of sawarakalpana. What Sundar missed in terms of maturity was amply filled up by Peri Sriramamurthy on the violin. His composed playing bringing out the melody in superabundance was the hallmark of the concert. Mannargudi Eswaran on the mridangam is a seasoned vidwan with profound experience. His playing on the occasion with the expert support of ghatam by Somayajulu, made the percussion playing an attractive feature of the day.
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