Ramakrishnan Murthy seems to have a penchant for Ragamalika. His RTP in Harikhambodi had in it tanam as well as the swaras for the pallavi, many of which were janyas of the main raga. The alapana of Harikhambodi was crisp and appealing but the tanam was more exhaustive; the other ragas to follow were Gowla, Bahudari, Nalinakanti and Shanmukhapriya.
The pallavi ‘Maharikambojabhavadinute Lalite’ was set to Chatusra Triputa tala and the Ragamalika swaras were in, besides the main one, Lalita, Yadukulakhambodi, Nayaki, Hindolam, Nagaswaravali and Sindhu Bhairavi; these went in the reverse order at the conclusion. Here and elsewhere his guru R.K. Shriramkumar on the violin, though indeed good, seemed to consciously or unconsciously outplay the sishya. The thani by Arun Prakash on the mridangam and Suresh on the ghatam followed; these consummate artists gave excellent support to the performance.
The concert, for Narada Gana Sabha, started with a rare varnam ‘Sami Enta Ninne’ in Surati by Subbarama Dikshitar following a short alapana of the raga. ‘Bale Balendu’ in Ritigowla of Tyagaraja was suffixed by swaras for the pallavi with energetic performance by all the four. The raga elaboration of Kalyani made for a good listening with Ramakrishnan singing softly in the lower register before moving to madhyama and tara sthayis; though there were no new ideas , still it was attractive without unwanted flourishes. The song rendered was Syama Sastry’s ‘Talli Ninnu Nera’, in which the charanam line “Shyamakrishna paripalini’ was taken up for leisurely niraval, followed by a short thani. Then was taken up ‘Kalavati Kamalaasana Yuvati’ in Kalavati by Muthuswami Dikshitar.
The concert ended with the all-time favourite ‘Poonkuyil Koovum’ in Kapi which was preceded by a virutham in Kapi and a tillana.
