Madras String Quartet, Bharat Sangeet Utsav

Madras String Quartet
V S Narasimhan - Violin
Hemantraj Muliyil - Violin
B J Chandran - Viola
V R Sekar - Cello

Bharat Sangeet Utsav, Carnatica & Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha
Narada Gana Sabha
7 Nov 09. 5:15 pm

Orchester Quartet - Carl Stamitz in C Major (3 movements)
Quartet - W A Mozart K.156 (3 movements)

evvari bOdana - AbhOgi - Adi - PSI
srI mahAgaNapati - gauLa - misra cApu - MD
srI subramaNyAya - kAmbhOji - rUpakam - MD
IsanE inda Ezhai - chakravAkam - PS
mOhanalahari - bilahari - V S Narasimhan
tillAnA - dEsh - Adi - LGJ
chinnanchiru kiLiyE - rAgamAlikA
krishna nI bEganE - yamunA kalyANi - vyAsarAyA

It was the first time I was hearing Orchestra-ised Carnatic Music or Western Music live. Though I have seen quite a few of the Quartet's youtube videos, it was definitely a different experience to see it live.

They had set apart about 30-45 minutes of programme for the Western Music Pieces that they presented. All of it so good to hear. I have heard some of these pieces over FM Rainbow & Gold, but to listen to them live is totally a different feeling. I was totally impressed with the coordination and harmony they could bring into their presentation.

The orchestra versions of our compositions were all very different on the ear and i must say i enjoyed it a lot. Sri Narasimhan played short AlApanais of kAmbhOji and bilahari, while Sri Chandran did so for ChakravAkam and Sri Sekar elaborated dEsh. It gave a different flavour to our compositions to be heard in such a version. I did enjoy it thoroughly.

Hope to hear them live again.