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Sublime musical trio
TO PRONOUNCE L. Subramaniam solely as a violinist would be limiting a thought. This great violin virtuoso, whose repertoire ranges from pure Indian classical to Western jazz, fusion, right to Western classical, is also a world-renowned composer. He has played with major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Brandenburg Symphony and the Oslo Philharmonic to name a few. Dr. Subramaniam also has the unique distinction of having played with some of the legends in music and also composing for them.
In `The Violin Legends,' (Sony Music, Rs. 75.00) Dr. Subramaniam brings together six select pieces, performed and recorded at different times and places with violin maestros like Lord Yehudi Menuhin and Stephane Grappelli.
"This album is dear to my heart for various reasons. Initially, the piece titled `Ambience' was dedicated to my father and mother. Midway through I stopped work on this when it was found that Viji (his wife) had tumour. For months it remained incomplete. When it was finally done, Viji had gone. And now when it is released, Grappelli, who features in this piece, is also no more," remembers Dr. Subramaniam.
Paganini Caprice No. 5 features Dr. Subramaniam, with Chris Rhyne on the keyboard. This piece is dedicated to the memory of Grappelli.
There are two pieces by J. S. Bach, Dr. Subramaniam's favourite. "Both of them were played and recorded, if I remember right, sometime in 2003. The first, a Partita No. 3 in E-Major was performed in Poland and the second one a Bach Double Concerto in D minor for two violins, with the Brandenburg Symphony. Andreas Preisser is on the second violin."
The album also features two other pieces, Journey Part I and Journey Part II, composed by Dr. Subramaniam. The first one has vocals by Vijayashree (Viji) Subramaniam and Mark Massey on the keyboard. "The second, with Yehudi Menuhin was first played at the United Nations, New York, sometime in 1987 and later recorded at Los Angeles." This piece, which is set to Mohanam raga, has Viji on the tambura, T.A.S. Mani on the mridangam, K. Sekar on the thavil, R. Yogaraja on the moorsing and ganjira.
A whole musical spectrum, from the 18th century to modern times, music that is of the heart and often not of the head, where technique gives way to sheer genius, is what finds representation in this album, which was released at the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival held at Thripunithura recently.
K. PRADEEP
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