For Tradition Turn to Nedunuri

These three discs comprise an entire concert performance by one of Karnatic music's greatest singers of the 20th century, Nedunuri Krishnamurthy. The concert heard here was recorded in 1968 in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, and sees him at the height of his powers. Fittingly, there are a number of kriti and kirtan by the South Indian composer Tyagaraja, also a devotee of Rama, who famously is said to have sung before the deity at the temple in Tirupati. In addition there a couple of pieces by Krishnamurthy himself, and a particularly beautiful tillana by the violinist Lalgudi G Jayaraman. The renditions of the works presented here are scrupulous, a truly consummate performance with a strong sense of tradition, made all the more impressive by the accompanying violin and mridangam playing of Pudukottai R Ramanathan and Nellai PS Devarajan. Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the package is to have an entire concert. It is often this sense of the whole musical evening that is missing from discs of Karnatic music, but here you are drawn further and further into the music as the event progresses. In the absence of a taking a trip to the Music Academy in Chennai, I can think of no better way to immerse yourself in an entire evening of glorious South Indian music.