The Carnatic pieces composed by former Akashavani Director, S. Krishnamurthy for orchestral rendering will be taken up by vainika Geetha Ramanand.
It is to be presented by a 10-member ensemble for the BTM Cultural Academy this weekend. “It is rare to come across composed, orchestrated numbers in the Carnatic genre and we are glad that Mr. Krishnamurthy recently composed the Hindola raga piece with three vocals in it that are to be part of this programme,” said Ms. Ramanand.
How did Mr. Krishnamurthy, the chaste Carnatic musician and the grandson of Mysore Vasudevachar, have a hand in composing orchestral numbers? “I played the Jal Tarang in the Mysore Palace Orchestra during Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar’s time. As we were encouraged to learn Western music and pass examinations conducted by the Trinity College of Music, London , my inspiration to replicate orchestrated pieces in Carnatic slowly took root then,” says Mr. Krishnamurthy.
He recollects that the Maharaja encouraged all musicians in the palace band to acclimatise themselves with every genre with a view to widening one’s musical horizons. While Veena Venkatagiriappa directed the Carnatic orchestra in the palace band, it was Vilayat Hussain Khan who took over the Hindustani one. Otto Schmidt from Germany directed the Western Classical music orchestra.
“I remember Mr. Schmidt selecting classics by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven that especially suited my practice on the Jal Tarang. Narasinga Rao was on the piano then,” says Mr. Krishnamurthy.
Realising the inherent potential in composed pieces where the symphony is meticulously composed for each instrument , Mr. Krishnamurthy joined Akashavani in 1947 and left an indelible mark on the Western orchestra . It was a only matter of time before his own Carnatic orchestral pieces took form in ragas as Ravichandrike, Kamach, Sindhubhairavi and Nalinakanti — nearly 60 compositions in all.
(July 20, 5:30pm, Ramana Maharishi Academy for the blind, J.P. Nagar)
