A Tightly Focused, Atmospheric Ramayana
Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite was composed in the early twentieth century to tell a Russian folktale in ballet form, using the complex leitmotifs and skewed discordance of modernist music. Since his subject matter was of a prince rescuing a princess from a wizard, Patel and choreographer Ashwaty Chennat saw an opportunity to tell the story commemorated by Diwali. Blending south Asian tradition, including its iconic costume stylings for the demon king Ravan, with western pas de deux, the dance ensemble found nearly perfect parallel beats between the stories. Of course, Stravinsky’s Firebird is only about forty-five minutes long, while the Ramayana consists of hundreds of chapters and traditional performances of it can take as long as a month. But Chennat neatly elided it by emphasizing the dream aspects of the story, and building off Stravinsky’s eerie woodwind calls. The Wentz stage is not very large when already occupied by an orchestra, but a paring down of the epic to just five dancers allowed the choreography to suit the music.
Chicago Sinfonietta Welcomes a Unique Voice
The second half of the concert consisted of Shanti Priya in E, Ls 231, a violin concerto performed by its composer, L. Subramaniam. Describing this meditation on peace, Subramaniam elicits highly varied sounds from his instrument, sometimes times making it as plaintiff as a human voice, and at others blending seamlessly with its droning accompaniment. Subramaniam’s extremely fast finger movements during the adagio drew looks of fascination from the violinists in the Sinfonietta, whom he joined in with during the concerto’s dramatic climaxes. Throughout the piece, Subramaniam engages in call and response with the drummers, masterfully building and releasing tension around the central melody. In the third movement, the music’s shift to counterpoint between brass and woodwinds. It sounds much like asoundtrack to a Western movie as meditation gives way to ecstasy. It’s a thrilling conclusion, in this writer’s view, achieved in no small part thanks to the tendency of Subramaniam’s compositions to favor unity over harmony. This is a piece that feels true to its purpose to track a singular spiritual experience, once again making a sinfonietta feel as intimate as a chamber orchestra.
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