Chingleput Ranganathan, Asthika Samajam, Thiruvanmiyur

Chingleput Ranganathan - Mullaivasal Chandramouli - Madirimangalam Swaminathan

Amarabharathi. Ashtika Samajam, Thiruvanmiyur.
Thyagaraja Utsavam
8th February 2007. 6:30 pm

srI gaNapatini - saurAshtRam - Adi - T
rAmA nI pai - kEdAram - Adi - T (S)
raghuvara nannu - pantuvarALi - Adi - T (RNS)
kanulu tAkani - kalyANa vasantam - rUpakam - T (RN)
nI vADanE gAna - sArangA - kaNDa cApu - T (R)
mundu vEnukA - darbAr - Adi - T (RNS)
tani Avarththanam
kalinarulaku - kuntaLa varALi - dEsAdi - T
mangaLam slOkam on tyAgarAja - suruTTi

The concert began with a short phrase of saurAshtRam. The kriti was rendered well. The kEdAram kriti, a forte of his school, was rendered very well with a nice and long set of one Avarthana svarams.

Sri Ranganathan's pantuvarALi AlApanai was very nice. The kriti was rendered well with a beautiful neraval at 'manasuna nIki marulu konnAnu'. The svarams sung were nice and had a lot of intricate kaNakku in them. Sri Ranganathan later explained that it was a misra kOrvai in kaNDa naDai he sang to finish the pantuvarALi svarams.

The kalyANa vasantam AlApanai was very elaborate and the kriti was rendered beautifully with awesome neraval at 'mana mOhanAnanda mada cakOra'. One was expecting svarams and was disappointed.

The flashy sArangA AlApanai was very indicative of a main piece, but was quickly rounded off with a quick number. The main darbAr AlApanai began with a punch of darbAr and was elaborated very well. The 13+ minutes of the AlApanai were just too good. The kriti was rendered very movingly with nice neraval and quick round of svarams at 'O gajarakshakA O rAjakumArA'. The kuntaLavarALi kriti was nicely rendered. The mangaLam slOkam, a composer of a certain Rao from kumbakonam of the 1920s was rendered nicely.

Sri Ranganathan gave a very enjoyable concert. All his AlApanais were very nice. They were very logically built and made enjoyable. His neraval and svarams were nice also.

Sri Chandramouli was very good in giving replies to the main artist. He sorta was tentative while beginning the last svaram of pantuvarALi, for he was quite surprised that Sri Ranganathan actually asked him to play the svarams after all the intricate math he displayed. However, Sri Chandramouli played a simpler yet enjoyable kOrvai in his turn. He was good in kalpitam and manOdarmam parts.

Sri Swaminathan on the mrudangam was very accomodative of the main artists style and played with amazing anticipation. He was very good in all parts and his tani was nice also.