Best of the Cord Pt. Vishwa Mohan BhaThe Best of the Cord, a live concert by Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, presents enthralling renditions of Ragas Gawati & Des. With masterful interpretations of timeless classical Ragas, Pt.Vishawa Mohan brings out hauntingly mesmerizing sounds, giving the Mohan Vina a melodic dimension virtually unimaginable in a traditional western guitar. His meditative alaaps invoke respectful concentration of the audience, and his outstandingly melodious gaat compositions hold the listeners spellbound. In this concert, the Pundit proves,yet again, that he is among the truly great masters of the Hindusthani Instrumental artists. The other concert artist, the young, up-and-coming tablist Sundeep Das (he is never credited in the DVD) accompanies
Best of the Cord Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhawith more-than-adequate ability to complement the master musician, with energetic enthusiasm to playback every phrase rendered on the Mohan vina. However, one is left with the feeling that the tablist fails to reveal a more spontaneous, intuitive ability to do so, and a more seasoned tabla-player - the likes of Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pt. Anindo Chatterjee, Ustad Sabir Khan or Ustad Safaat Ahmed Khan - would have been a more fitting accompanist for Pt. VM Bhatt.
That said, one notes that the filming of the concert is at best perfunctory, lacking a more creative handling of the camera; and the concert hall suffers from lack of a more aesthetically-appealing decoration. But the biggest disappointment to the buyers of the DVD is the total absence of subtitles identifying the phases of ragas being executed, and the tala characterization of each. The Main Menu lists the order of musical pieces rendered IN WRONG SEQUENCE: the 3rd piece played IS NOT RAGA DES, but a Rajasthani folk tune set to semi-classical Pahari (PAHADI?), one of many with which the master musician adores to delight the concert audience. Raga Des is presented after this one. **Rick Turner's notes for the DVD lists the last piece of concert as a 14:25min - rendition of Raga Bhairavi ... THIS PIECE WAS CALLOUSLY EDITED OUT TO JUST A MEANINGLESS ABREVIATION OF ALAAP .. and nothing more, lasting a mere 4+ minutes! This smacks of a total lack of respect for those interested in acquiring classical music DVDs. Such an attitude is unpardonable.
