Three Ragas

1. Evening Raga

2. Tune in Dhun

3. Morning Raga

Tracks:

Raga Jog
Raga Ahir Bhairav
Raga Simhendra Madhyamam

Customer Reviews:

Very Pleased.......2007-05-14

I was most pleased with my CD order: I received it quickly and it was a represented on Amazon--in excellent shape.

Awesome, consistent, and diverse.......2006-06-06

This is the best Ravi Shankar I've heard so far. You don't get much alap (slow arhythmic introduction to the raga being performed) on this CD, and the reason is that alap can last for as much as an hour, but whoever produced this wanted to put 3 whole ragas (scales plus plus, basically) into the same amount of time.

Anyway, what you DO get is one of the all-time masters of melodic line at peak performance, for an hour. The bunch of this CD is the fast, rhythm-centered sitarwork termed "gat". Not lyrical in a Western sense, but intense, "dancing", unflaggingly inventive twists and turns of melody. Ravi goes all out with one of his favorite tricks here: playing a phrase twice in a row, then playing just the start of it and suddenly veering away into a new melody. A full analysis of all the dozens of ways in which Ravi creates surprise, tension, release, and excitement using just a single melody line would take many pages. To say that he is a master of ornamentation would be just the beginning.

One nice thing is that for each raga you get to hear two different buildups to a climax - the first without tabla (drum) accompaniment and the second, larger buildup, with tabla. It's almost as if there are six performances on the CD, not just three. Very effective - when the drums come in each time, I get the pleasure of knowing that the superlative stringwork still ringing in my ears from the first movement will be topped by the
coming, percussion-accompanied sequel. It is also very nice that the three ragas featured here come from three entirely different melodic families, and create rather different effects.

Based on what I've heard of his music so far, it seems to me that later in his life Ravi Shankar, though losing none of his speed or showmanship, could no longer bring such sheer densely-packed melodic inventiveness to his gats as he shows here(his alaps only got better, however). Whether that's true or not, however, this is a stunning performance and some of the best music most people will ever hear. Get it.

Timeless music.......2005-01-15

Thanks to inspiration from a highly unlikely quarter--Bollywood, of all things!--my wife and I have developed a newfound love of Indian culture. I had long been familiar with Ravi Shankar thanks to his association with George Harrison and his fame as one of the world's best sitar players, but until recently, the only album of his that I had was the live Inside the Kremlin (1988). I always enjoyed that CD, believing that raga could be a challenging but ultimately rewarding listen if one were simply willing to give the music time to move one's soul. This CD (along with two other of Angel-EMI's Ravi remasters) has indeed proven me correct...and well-rewarded.

I was struck by the flawless remastering job, first of all--although this album was recorded in 1956, it could have been recorded yesterday for the freshness and sharpness of the sound. Shankar's performances are beyond reproach--while I wouldn't call this the peak of his career, exactly (unlike one of the previous reviewers), I would say this was a very promising start, and an excellent introduction for anyone to Indian classical music. Raga itself is truly timeless music--it never sounds dated, like some forms of music do, but it is truly the sound of the soul; Ravi even describes "Raga Jog" as the expression of one soul's longing, and you feel this quite strongly.

I purchased this one along with his later work A Morning Raga/An Evening Raga, and had previously purchased Improvisations (his first actual American release, issued by the World Pacific label in 1962 and remastered by Angel-EMI in 1999 as one of the first few titles in the Ravi Shankar Collection series). I highly recommend this music for anyone who truly enjoys world music in general (being one of those myself, something for which I will always heartily thank my wife) and Indian music in particular. For those wishing to explore the Carnatic tradition of South India, I would recommend the late Ramnad Krishnan's 1968 recording Vidwan...also a challenging, but ultimately rewarding, listen.

Ravi's Peak.......2004-12-12

Welcome to Ravi Shankar's best album (4.8 stars)! Recorded in 1956, Three Ragas was his first LP. Pound for pound, it is also as powerful a musical statement as he had ever made, or would go on to make.

That's probably not the most popular thing to say, given the fact that his career has been so long and this is not his most famous performance/album, but the proof is in the music itself. He certainly didn't have the degree of fame in 1956 that he would have just a decade later, but his music was peaking. If I were chatting with someone and they offhandedly said that Raga Jog from this disc was the best 28 minutes of Ravi's officially-released career, I would not be inclined to argue with them. If you've been all ga-ga over Monterey Pop for the past 30 years (or 30 days) but you've never heard this album, you should prepare yourself now. Ravi's Monterey Pop performance is but a shadow of what happens here, even though his performance was the highlight of Monterey Pop itself.

The alap, jor, and jhala in Raga Jog are some of the best of Ravi's life. This alap is much more powerful than the alap in Bhimpalasi from Monterey, and here with Chatur Lal on tabla, the gats reveal Ravi at his all-time high in terms of rhythmic sophistication and plain old-fashioned fire power. Not enough good things can be said about Chatur Lal... one of the best tabla players of his generation. An incredible musician who made everyone better around him.

Rags Ahir Bhairav and Simhendra Madhyamam are shorter, compact performances at 15 and 11 minutes respectively but that is fine, especially in light of the fact that several of the Angel-remastered early albums are made up largely of shorter performances... and again, these 2 are at the top of the heap.

If you can only have one Ravi Shankar album, make sure this is the one. After this, take the previous reviewer's advice with respect to Nikhil Banerjee. Nikhil was unbelievably brilliant... a melodic genius.

Masterpiece.......2004-04-08

This is one of Ravi Shankar's very best recordings, and one of the best introductions to the beauty and grandeur of Indian classical music you'll ever find. All three ragas here are given a masterly performance, particularly raga Jog, which is perhaps my favorite. Ravi's inventiveness and profundity are breathtaking!

Newcomers to this genre will also want to listen to the duet recording of sarodist Ali Akbar Khan and sitarist Nikhil Banerjee performing ragas Manj Khammaj and Misra Mand. Although these two masters were taught by the same guru who taught Ravi Shankar, their style and approach is different from (but just as beautiful as) Ravi's.

Indian Classical Masters: Three Ragas for Solo Violin
Average customer rating:

Manufacturers Need to Get It Together!!!

Doctor! Doctor! Another home run. Beautiful job maestro.

This is as good as it could possibly get

Ahh...to experience Nirvana!

Soulful....

Indian Classical Masters: Three Ragas for Solo Violin
L. Subramaniam
Manufacturer: Nimbus Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000037ED
Release Date: 1992-12-02

Tracks:

Raga Sarasvatipriya
Raga Vasantapriya
Raga Sivapriya

Customer Reviews:

Manufacturers Need to Get It Together!!!.......2006-02-23

I'm a huge fan of Carnatic music and the playing of L. Subramaniam in particular. Imagine my dismay when I unwrapped the CD, put it in my CD player, and discovered that the disc inside was not that advertised by the external packaging but was of Canadian folk music!!!!! I'm reluctant to purchase another disc from Nonesuch on the basis of this.

Doctor! Doctor! Another home run. Beautiful job maestro........2005-04-12

This is one of the best CDs you can get on the Carnatic violin genere. The ragas are exquisite and Subramaniam's playing is sensitive and robust. I found the Ragam rendered beautifully. This CD is even better than his Maestro's Choice which was released in 2004 by Living Media India Ltd.

If you want to experience some great violin music get this CD.

This is as good as it could possibly get.......2004-03-04

This CD defines tastes, intelligence, control, musicality, creativity, and performance excellence. Subramaniam's mastery is confirmed in these revelatory ragas, revelatory in the vision that they impart and also as a demonstration of his amazing ability. It's Dr. Subramaniam all alone. No tabla. No guest artists from the jazz world. Just solo violin against a gentle backdrop of tamboura. You hear see it all here. This CD clearly shows why he is one of the world's greatest violinists, regardless of category. A must for any serious listener of Indian music.

Ahh...to experience Nirvana!.......2001-07-13

One of the best albums featuring Carnatic music as defined and exposed by the Violin, of Dr L Subramaniam. The raga Vasantapriya ("Dear to Spring") is very close contextually to raga Vasantha ("Chettinadu Chinna Magane"). Beautifully rendered in brilliant style by the rebel, this is one of those CDs I'd never think about before recommending. Even a casual listener, one who may not have an iota of understanding of Music, per se, would be amazed by the depth, complexity, tonal beauty, language, and the dexterous handling of the difficult-to-master instrument of listening pleasure. That the raga Sarasvatipriya is not the same as raga Sarasvati, with a bit of modification in the Ragam Tanam Pallavi, as one goes through the entire stretch of the piece, would be obvious. But nobody minds - it's pure magic, performed by the best magician there is.

Soulful...........2000-03-30

Another soulful raaga rendering by the virtuoso. Sarasvatipriya seemed more close to the raaga Sarasvati than Vasatapriya was to the raaga Vasantha. I found several phrases almost same as in his album Sarasvati, which is an RTP in Sarasvati. Swara scale and differences are clearly enunicated in the CD cover. If you are looking for a soft and soulful violin recording without the mathematics of an RTP, then this is a good buy.