Billed as the first ever symphony written by an Asian film composer, legendary music- director Ilaiyaraaja's Western classical Symphony, 'Valiant', was debuted at London's Eventim Apollo Theatre on Sunday. "It was truly a surreal experience," London-based pianist, music producer and composer Anirudh Krishna, who had attended the concert, told PTI over Instagram chat.
The music director, often referred to as 'Raaja sir', or 'maestro' by his adoring fans, was joined by the renowned Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, which also regularly performs film music, video game music and songs from video games, besides western classical symphonies. The orchestra was conducted by Mikel Toms.
"The symphony had four movements, the first and the second were purely western classical music, and the third and fourth also had influences from Indian classical music," said Krishna.
Krishna, like many other ardent Ilaiyaraaja fans -- some even claimed that they went all the way from India to London to pay homage to the historic event -- kept the others in the loop through live feeds and Insta stories of the concert.
What really caught his attention as a professional musician, said Krishna, was the interesting counterpoints in harmonic moments.
Although technically videography and photography were not allowed at the venue, the internet is flooded with snippets of the concert, letting fans beyond London to already begin the customary 'let's decode Ilaiyaraaja music' posts.
But UK-based Sylvian Patrick Jesudoss (@sylvianism), a lecturer teaching Digital Marketing and Consumer Research at the University of Leicester, who also attended the concert and unpacked it in bits and pieces through the evening, said it will take years to "decode this symphony and the sudden tonal shifts".
An ardent fan of Ilaiyaraaja, Jesudoss, who is known for his lengthy 'X' threads deconstructing the music of Ilaiyaraaja, wrote of the concert: "What's the testimony that you listened to excellence? At the end, before closing, one of the violinists suggested that they play the part of the 3rd Movement as an encore. Mikel Toms obliged, and they played it again as a closing note. We left with that high."
Although Ilaiyaraaja did keep his promise that there will be no background score of film songs in 'Valiant', which lasted for 45 minutes, the fans were nevertheless happy when the Second Act ushered in some of his favourite songs and BGM scores.
In the Second Act, the orchestra also experimented with Ilaiyaraaja songs and background scores, said Krishna.
"The orchestra performed Raaja sir's 'Three note Symphony', an orchestral medley of his famous songs like 'Raaja Raajathi', 'Madai Thirandhu', 'Poove Sempoove' and 'Kanne Kalaimaane'," he said.
The orchestra also performed a background score from Malayalam film 'Guru', said Krishna, adding that he spotted Ilaiyaraaja's sons, Karthik Raaja and Yuvan Shankar Raaja, as well as film director Balki.
In his 'X' post, Jesudoss mentioned that the section of background scores might have surprised people. "The last piece they played was from an animated movie called 'Pandavas' - the first theatrical animated movie in India, produced by Pentamedia and directed by Usha Ganesh Raja," wrote Jesudoss.
Going by the number of reposts, the internet is clearly head over heels in love with orchestral rendition of his seminal 1998 hit, 'Poove Sempoove', sung by K J Yesudas for the film, 'Solla Thudikuthu Manasu'.
But according to Jesudoss, although he was in tears when 'Poove Sempoove' was performed, his most favourite 'non-symphony' moment was when Ilaiyaraaja sang "Idhayam Poguthe" while the orchestra was playing Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony".
"We get to hear a lot about Western classical music greats, but to listen to a symphony live in today's age, especially by a composer from our own country, is a remarkable achievement that we should all be proud about," added Krishna.
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