Raga Puriya

1. Alap, Jor & Jhala

2. Dhrupad in Chautal

Tracks:

Morning Love
Raga Piloo
Prabhati
I. Raga Khamaj
II. Raga Sindhi Bhairavi
III. Raga Adana
IV. Raga Manj Khamaj

Tracks:

Raga: Purlya Kalyan
Swara-Kakali
I. Lalit (Presto)
II. Bairagi (Moderato)
III. Yaman Kalyan (Moderato)
IV. Mian Ki Malhar (Allegro)

Customer Reviews:

East meets West musically with fantastic results.......2006-02-03

This is more than two hours of acclaimed sitar master Ravi Shankar grooving with a variety of Western orchestral instruments in both classical Western and classical Indian musical settings.

The former includes two concertos for sitar and orchestra; the latter includes two ragas and other traditional works.

Shankar is joined by plenty of heavy hitters. The conductors for the two concertos are Andre Previn and Zubin Mehta; Yehudi Menuhin and Jean-Pierre Rampal are the top classical music soloists to join Shankar on other pieces.

And the creativity to write the two concertos? Incredible.

And, the recording quality on these two CDs, including the degree of stereo separation on the smaller instrumented pieces, is great. For example, the Morning Love had fantastic sound, and separation, between the sitar and tabla. Made me feel like I was on a rug about six feet away from two real performers, just as my speakers are.

West Meets East: The Historic Shankar/Menuhin Sessions

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West meets East... and the result is somewhat frustrating
Too weird, too fractured
Don't Forget Enescu
East Meets West
Two stars shine

West Meets East: The Historic Shankar/Menuhin Sessions

Manufacturer: Bgo - Beat Goes on
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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West Meets East, Vol. 2
West Meets East: The Historic Shankar Menuhin Collection

ASIN: B00000JHC9
Release Date: 1999-07-14

Tracks:

Prabhati - Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Alla Rakha
Raga: Puriya Kalyan - Ravi Shankar
Swara-Kakali - Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar
Sonata No. 3 in a Minor, Op. 25: 1st Movement-Moderato Malinconico/2nd - Hephzibah Menuhin, Sir Yehudi Menuhin

Customer Reviews:

West meets East... and the result is somewhat frustrating.......2007-06-10

Ah! The glorious Sixties, the Age of Gold. The Beatles had long hair and beards, they wore colorful shirts and bell-bottom pants, crossed Abbey Road bare-footed, sang Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and even had their own private Indian Guru ; yes, West met East, and Yehudi Menuhin met Ravi Shankar.

This is the reissue of a historical recording, made in 1966 and crowning, as the liner notes recall, a friendship established as early as 1952. The title is appropriate: it is more a case of the Western instrument and player trying to blend into an alien tradition, than the reverse. Wouldn't it have been nice (and not out of place) to have tried an arrangement of Enesco's Sonata with Sitar accompaniment! But note that Menuhin is absent from the second piece, "Puriya Kalyan", played by Sitar alone, and Shankar doesn't appear in the first piece, "Prabhati", played by Menuhin and All Rakha on tabla (percussion). So the two musicians are featured together only in the third piece, "Swara-Kakali", which I find more successful than the first in its blending of Western violin and Indian music, thanks to the more subtle, Enesco-like violin effects used in it: harmonics and glissandos on high notes, hushed tremolos scales to the upward reaches, etc.

As recorded, Menuhin's violin sounds a bit dry and wiry, but that less than appealing feature of his playing is most of the times masked by Shankar's Sitar. Still, for those liking that kind of music, the three pieces are disappointingly short (deceptively, no timings are given on the disc's cover: they clock at 4:08 / 11:44 / 8:46). One expects improvisations in Indian Music to last hours - Morton Feldman more than Anton Webern. Ultimately the encounter wets one's appetite but then frustrates rather than satiates it.

Enescu (or Enesco as he is know in France, his second homeland) of course had no long hair and beard, did not cross Abbey Road bare-footed and, while I can give no assurance as to how many flower-printed shirts he owned throughout his life, I am ready to stake my hand that he never wore bell-bottom pants. Yet in his 3rd Violin and Piano Sonata - possibly his towering masterpiece, along with the later "Impressions d'Enfance" also for Violin and Piano, and equal to anything that was written for these two instruments in the first half of the 20th Century - he invented a uniquely personal sound-world, inspired by Rumanian Gipsy music, rhapsodic and whimsical, and displaying a wide array technical effects used for their unique coloring and expressive possibilities: trills, mordents, acciaccaturas (also in the piano writing, lending it a unique, "aquatic" quality), upward portamentos, quarter tones, harmonics, non vibrato playing, sul ponticello (on the bridge), striking with the tip of the bow.

Any recording of Enescu by Menuhin will be of special interest and value, as the latter was a pupil of the Rumanian all-out musician (Enescu was equally proficient as violinist, pianist and composer). In their second recording of the piece (the first, from 1936, can be found on Menuhin Plays Enescu, Szymanowski, Prokofiev, Ravel), Menuhin and his sister Hepzibah turn out an animated and impassioned reading, very close in spirit to their first, alive to the Sonata's whimsical and playful dance-like moments, but with no loss in the more brooding and lamenting moods. But Menuhin elicits no particular beauty of tone from his instrument, and is further unaided by a very close recording pickup. As a result the second movement's non vibrato harmonics are particularly wearing on the ear and loose some of the mesmerizing, other-worldly quality they should have. I suppose the fiddler can easily loose count of the piano's ostinato quintuplets that open that same movement (a reminiscence of the "toaca", the wooden sticks that monks drum at dawn in some Rumanian monasteries), as Menuhin, like André Gertler before him (Milhaud & Enescu: Concerto for Violin /Sonata for Violin Import), adds a beat here and looses one there (but you won't notice it without a score). The close recording also gives at times an overbearing presence to the piano, with mezzo-fortes sounding like fortes, though Hepzibah is capable of playing with much subtlety, as at the beginning of the second movement. The two partners hurl in the finale with even more enthusiasm than they did 30 years before, but Menuhin's bowing technique is also strained beyond (the listener's) comfort in the Bartok-like, Rumanian romping folk-dance, although the violin's coarse tone and the piano's muscular pounding are more in situation there. But the truth is, despite Menuhin's possible claim to hold a special legitimacy in this piece due to his strong relation with the composer, there are more subtle, refined, probing and ultimately convincing versions - starting with the Menuhins' earlier one if you are ready to put up with the 1936, 78rmp sound, and continuing with the one Isaac Stern recorded a year after this one, very similar in approach but more expressive and with infinitely superior tone (collected in vol. 27 of the Sony Stern complete collection, Franck, Debussy, Enesco: Violin Sonatas).

The disc is the straight reissue of the LP - and with 49' it is far too short for a CD, and the Enesco has only one cue point, making it very inconvenient to go to its second and third movements.

Too weird, too fractured.......2007-01-13

This CD has an admixture of Yehudi and Ravi. There are long passages of of only one of them playing, then the other, but not together. I suppose the good part is you get some 'pure' one or the other. It's entertaining but not GREAT.

Don't Forget Enescu.......2006-09-18

Just wanted to mention that while many might be drawn to and think of this CD as mainly the work of the great Ravi Shankar, the Sonata for Violin & Piano by Enescu is a mesmerizing work, beautifully performed by the Menuhins. This piece is worth the price of the CD all by itself.

East Meets West.......2000-11-22

This is truly one of the most lovely, engaging, and encompassing joining of two classic traditions and true masters. Menuhin lets his western ego free and joins with Ravi Shankar to make, what I feel, a landmark musical statement.

Two stars shine.......2000-06-23

Both Shankar and Menuhin are masters who clearly shine on this studio concert. Rarely can one hear such complex melodies and improvisation played so perfectly. These two individuals create memories with their love of each other's classical music styles. Jazz, classical, Indian, and world music lovers will all be thrilled by this collection of masterpieces. There is also a companion live verstion of this album which is equally magnificent. I have used both as gifts repeatedly. Do not miss an oportunity to hear utter innovation.

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Raga Puriya Kalyan
Bahauddin Dagar
Manufacturer: India Archives
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0009PVZ32
Release Date: 2005-06-21

Tracks:

Alap, Jor & Jhala
Dhrupad in Chautal

Average customer rating:

Raga Marwa/Puriya/Sohini
Ustad Vilayat Khan
Manufacturer: India Archives
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Raga Bhairavi
Raga Enayetkhani Kanada
Ustad Vilayat Khan Sitar Akram Khan - Tabla (Raga Shree)
Raga Khamaj

ASIN: B00070HA4M
Release Date: 2004-12-14

Tracks:

Raga Marwa: Alap
Raga Puriya: Madhya Gat In Tintal
Raga Sohini: Drut Gat In Tintal

Average customer rating:

45 Minutes of Imrat's Best

Raga Puriya Dhanashri
Ustad Imrat Khan
Manufacturer: India Archives
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Sitar and Surbahar
Classical Indian Sitar & Surbahar Ragas
Raga Jaijaivanti
Raga Nat Bhairav
Jugalbandi: Sarod and Sarangi Duet

ASIN: B00000164S
Release Date: 1996-06-28

Tracks:

Raga Puriya Dhanashri: Alap And Jor - Ustad Imrat Khan
Raga Puriya Dhanashri: Alap And Drut Gat In Tintal - Ustad Imrat Khan/Shafaat Khan

Customer Reviews:

45 Minutes of Imrat's Best.......2001-02-10

Imrat Khan is the master of flashy and expressive surbahar alap. It can be said that he treats all ragas the same, but he has no equal in flashy and expressive surbahar technique and it makes for beautiful, gorgeous listening. Frankly, I can't stand sitar gat so I may not be qualified to comment on the last 30 minutes (Imrat picks up the sitar, his son (of all people) joins in on the tabla, I turn it off), but the opening 45-minute solo is pure Imratkhani firework surbahar at its best! Long live unaccompanied alap, say I!

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Music of the Past
valuable recording
If this is "real" veena playing, please give me the fake one
Not just a musican - not just music !!

Raga Puriya
Shamsuddin Faridi Desai
Manufacturer: India Archives
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Raga Miyan Ki Todi

ASIN: B0009PVZ3M
Release Date: 2005-06-21

Tracks:

Alap, Jor & Jhala
Dhrupad in Chautal

Customer Reviews:

Music of the Past.......2007-04-29

This music is not for fun and game crowd. This is a piece of music fast disappearing from the Indian stage. It was not meant for commercial success or number of CDs sold. Raga Puriya rendered here is unlikely to be sung or played in this fashion by anyone else. Shamsuddin Khan's playing is true to the character of the Raga and unconcerned about entertaining or pleasing his audience. His technique is also a thing of the past and unconcerned about blending in new tricks to embellish his music. In fifty more years, there will be no such music to be heard as commercial success takes over as the only criteria. Only other musician I heard play like this was his father, Mohammed Khan Faridi, when I heard him at the age of ten!

valuable recording.......2005-11-13

A shard of pottery from Mesopotamia is more valuable than the most expensive Wedgewood! How can we determine if Shamsuddin is following a tradition or is simply on his own. In todays Age of Information, fortunately, this is easy to determine. Shamsuddin's Puriya may be compared with short recordings of his father Muhammad Khan Faridi (also in Puriya). The resemblance is obvious. Another beenkar who plays in this style is Pandit Hindraj Divekar of Pune. To declare that one needs to listen to alaps by "real masters" like Asad Ali and Baha ud Din is to simply make a great show of one's ignorance. Baha ud din was not even born or probably was a toddler when Shamsuddin was in his prime. A comparison with old recordings of Sadiq Ali Khan (Asad Ali's father) shows that there is absolutely no resemblance between Asad Ali's playing and his father's. It is Asad Ali who is the maverick! You may or may not like one style or another, these are personal preferences after all, but you cannot declare a piece of traditional music to be untraditional simply because you were not exposed to the relevant tradition in the first place!!

Therefore...give me a single "boing" and I will give you the complete recorded works of all other living Beenkars! Warning: this music is NOT for beginners and you need a REALLY open mind for this. Some say that if we heard Tansen today maybe we will find his singing strange and unbearable.

If this is "real" veena playing, please give me the fake one.......2005-10-15

Tradition is a fragile and valuble thing. Tradition is the basis of culture and culture is what makes art noble. Shamsuddin Faridi is a maverick in every sense of the word. The Alap that he presents is the most haphazard sequence of boing boings masquerading as an Alap I have ever heard. A performance of a Raga is meant to evoke a mood, a sentiment, not to numb you with haphazard movements and stange pauses only to make more such noises. Overall, the Alap was a complete letdown. If you want to hear a real Alap, listen to masters like Asad Ali Khan or Bahauddin Dagar or better still, Zia Mohiuddin Dagar.
The area where Shamsuddin Faridi excels is in the plucking technique. Apparently he has mastered many different mizrab and plucking styles and this is borne out in the sometimes impressive Bandish. However, no sooner than he starts the Bandish than he rushes into improvisations - one wishes he returned to the beautiful sthayi at least once.
Overall:
1) The Pakhawaj accompaniment is excellent (1 star)
2) The Bandish is enjoyable in parts (1 star).
3) Recording and sound are good (1/2 star)
Since I can't give 2.5 stars, I shall give this 3.

Not just a musican - not just music !! .......2005-06-21

It took a decade for this music to be finally edited and released.This is the culmination of a really extraordinary sequence of events.Shamsuddin Faridi is not another run -of - the- mill musician trying to make a mark in the music scene and it is quite likely that he would never have been recorded were it not for the foresight of true connoisseurs like Lyle Wachovsky of India Archives.

Shamsuddin is a Sufi who spends most of his time with the fakirs and dervishes at the Dargahs (mausolems, tombs) of medieval Indian Sufi saints like Shaik Kalimuddin and Baba Qutubuddin Bhaktiar Kaki in Delhi.

This music is not being played for entertainment. This is a personal meditation session to which the listener is invited. The Raga Puriya is presented at its purest form but in a context which is very far removed from any kind of Hindustani instrumental music in vogue today. This is the Rudra Veena played in the style of Bande Ali Khan the legendary Beenkar of Indore.

Do not look for complicated phraseology in this music. The Alap is based on sounds. The number of different kind of sounds which this Beenkar is able to coax from the Been is mind blowing. It is like a craft which has been heard about and believed to be lost but has been found again. The jhala transcends most of the standards set by any recorded Hindustani musican dead or alive.

Shamsuddin is extremely moody and his music depends crucially on his state of mind. This is a recording from a session when he was completely switched on !! Technically this is a marvel, the sound is fierce and captivating. If you want your mind to be blown apart - this is the music for you.