Mixed emotions

Sunday evening was lucky for many reasons.

Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra was performing in Bombay after 50 years. My music loving father was in town. Mr Bojangles could manage entry passes for me and my father. And we had the experience of a lifetime.

A chamber orchestra is a smaller than the usual orchestra and largely consists of string instruments. Violin and its elder siblings.

The usually mild winters of Bombay has strangely become harsh with icy breeze these days and this Sunday evening was particularly cold with the venue being right next to the sea. But everything became comfortable once we were inside the warm interiors of the magnificent Jamshed Bhabha theatre. The promise of some great live music by the musicians from Germany was adding to the comfort. The 2 years old Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI), was also going to give a couple of performances.

Founded in 1945, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra is the oldest professional chamber orchestra in the world and hence serves as a model for others.

The conductor was a smiling, snow-bearded violinist called Benjamin Hudson and his team lovingly rendered the subtle magic of Mozart, Bach and Greig. The bows of their violins, cellos and bass danced along while their fingers danced on the string. The performing ladies looked beautiful in their gowns and the men sophisticated in their tailcoats. I kept swaying along, reacting to each and every nuance of the compositions. All along, my lips had a constant smile. Evenings like this are rare.

The SOI gave their Stuttgart partners great company but as earnestly accepted by their conductor himself; they have a lot of catching up to do.

During the 15 minutes break, we spotted Pyaarelal of Laxmikant Pyaarelal fame. Dressed in the trademark white attire, he had also come to savour the sonorous evening.

But all wasn’t as beautiful as the music of Mozart. The average age of the audience was 65. Western Classical music is turning into a dying form of art. And this is the truth all over the world. There are very few listeners of this form of music and most of them are in the later part of their lives. Hence, it doesn’t make commercial sense. Simple. Sad. Will there be similar concerts 200 hundred years from now? In Vienna...maybe. But, in Bombay, I’m not sure.

Somehow, our own Indian Classical music scenario seems to be in a better shape than this. I might be wrong.

With these mixed emotions of exhilaration and sadness, my father and I rushed back to my sisters place for dinner with some good wine. The breeze had become icier.

ps: Can you spot the snow-bearded conductor in the picture, taken on the sly? His beard looks black here because of the violin's chin rest.

My Weekend

It involved 2 night outs and 3 'art enjoyment' activities. While the night outs were about the usual spirited activities, the 'art enjoyment' activities are more worthy of a mention here.

Activity No. 1 - 'A clever exchange of letters' or 'When Mr. Shaw and the Shah's came together'
The ever enthusiastic friend (one who watched Black Friday twice) had booked the tickets almost a couple of weeks in advance for Naseeruddin Shah & Ratna Pathak Shah's rendition of Jerome Kilty's 'Dear Liar', a play based on the letters between the great George Bernard Shaw and the actress Mrs Patrick Campbell.

Despite having married lives of their own, the two had an affair for a while but their letters extended beyond that 'for a while'...in fact, till Mrs Campbell's death. Mrs Campbell was the one who made Shaw's famous creation 'Eliza Doolittle' on the stage at the ripe age of 49 (Phew! Can you imagine?). The sophisticated and very clever English of Mr Shaw (most consider him as the greatest writer of the Queen's language after Shakespeare) and a mind blowing performance of the Shahs makes this play, one of the finest I have seen. One just has to observe the way Mr Shah grows old with the passage of time to realize his acting genius. Don't miss this one, even if you haven't read anything by GBS...I have just read one play.

Activity no. 2 - 'A Musical Puzzle' or 'When Bach meets Beatles'
My good friend was gifted this beautiful audio CD by his music teacher and thats how I got to hear it. Those acquainted with both the styles of music can only begin to imagine whats inside that CD. Performed by a contemporary American pianist, John Bayless, the beautiful melodies of 'The Beatles' starts to sound pretty much like the soft, quick and short flow of 'The Art of Fugue'. The most interesting aspect of this collection is the puzzle part of it....it's a while (even for a die-hard fan like me) before you get the drift of the song, Mr Bayless is playing. And when you get it, it's one of those little blissful moments. If you are interested in solving this puzzle, put up your mail IDs and I shall mail a few tracks after removing the track's name.

Activity No. 3 - 'Revisiting Water in the theater'
Deepa Mehta's finest effort so far was a delight on the big screen. Stunning visuals, a great soundtrack, tight performances from Sarla (plays the little Chuhiya) / often unsung Seema Biswas and the hope (and hence tears) inducing climax makes this one a must for anybody who digs movies. The ubiquitous yet subtle presence of Gandhi throughout the movie is beautifully executed. Thank you, Ms Mehta!