Customer Reviews

Signature Series, Vol. 3

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Originally released by Connoisseur Society during the early 70's on vinyl, this legacy is now available on CD for a new generation of listeners to discover. The gat in Raga Marwa allows us to enjoy once again the wonderfully brilliant tabla accompaniment of the late Mahaparush Misra. Khansahib explores this raga and reveals it's beauty with his graceful slides and embellishments on the sarod.

Misra Shivaranjani is remarkable as well! After a short introduction we begin the journey. Subtle and seductive - It's hard not to become engrossed in this one. Tie it all up with the gifted, insightful and uncanny tabla accompaniment of Shankar Ghosh and you've got a great package. Absolutely one of my favorites! A "must" for lovers of Indian music.

I would have to say that this is a great cd but not quite as great as I expected in one respect, and even better than I expected in one respect.

I'm not sure why, but I am still rather unmoved by the alap in Raga Marwa. Before hearing this cd I sort of expected it to be one of the highlights of the disc.

The flipside to that is the fact that Mahapurush Misra's tabla performance during the gat in Raga Marwa is absolutely explosive! When it really comes down to it, this cd is worth purchasing for Mahaparush's performance alone.

I think Ali's best playing comes during the gorgeous Raga Misra Shivaranjani. This is a melodically beautiful raga, and here Ali is accompanied by Shankar Ghosh on tabla. What I love about this performance is that even though it's very energetically played, Misra Shivaranjani still has an overall feeling of serenity and peacefulness. This is one of my favorite recorded performances by Ali himself.

Overall, I would say that I still prefer Volume 4 of the Signature Series (with Nikhil Banerjee, Ali Akbar Khan, and Mahapurush Misra) over this one but that in no way slights this great cd, Volume 3, which has some of the most essential Hindustani recordings ever made.

This disc contains the only lenghty raga of the series. Raga Marwa clocks in around 40 minutes roughly split 50/50 between alap and gat. As the third part of this amazing series, this disc stands out for reasons of its own. Like I said, lenghth is one thing (although not a reason to buy a disc), but Khansahib's ability to put special twists on a piece in top-notch. Once again, highly recommended.

I have never heard a performance more powerful than this one
in any music genre. The variety of tones that Ali Akbar Khan
coaxes out of his sarod is amazing as is the constantly shifting
rythym. The piece that comes closest to mind when I hear this is
La Sacre du Printemps by Stravinsky in terms of sheer power.
The last few minutes can be compared with being hit by an
oncoming freight train coming down a steep hill at top speed,
but my words are feeble in comparison to the real impact of this
music. One must hear it to comprehend!

If one wants to know the brlience of this master, have rare glimps of the intrcate fabric of this difficult raag or get evidence of fantastic tonal potntials of the Sarode, Marwaa-recording is the way to go.
Mishra-Shivranjni has always been the vanila icecream to charm audiances all over. KhanSabib's bold strokes and Jhalaa in Roopak Taal are unsurpassed.

Great music, very well recorded. A collector's item for anyone fond of Indian Classical music.