Ilaiyaraaja/ Valiant - Symphony No 1
BY NARENDRA KUSNUR Ilaiyaraaja/ Valiant: Symphony No 1 Genre: Western classical Performed by: Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Mikel Toms Label: Mercuri Foundation Rating: ***** Let's face it. The majority of Ilaiyaraaja's fans have grown up on his south Indian film music. From Annakili to Ajantha , Geethanjali to Gunaa , the favourites have been in Tamil, Telugu and at times Malayalam and Kannada. In that field, he's been king, and his Hindi work, though lesser in quantity, has been appreciated too. He's often shown influences of western classical music in his film scores, like Salil Choudhury had done a generation earlier in Hindi and Bengali music. But to write a full-fledged symphony requires a completely different approach, mental sinew and skill-set. Even for a listener, it needs a completely different mindset, understanding and taste, and it wouldn't be surprising if a large number of his fans have never heard an actual symphony before. Wi...