Volume 1
Side A: Siddhi Vinayakam - Chamaram - Rupakam - Dikshithar
Seethapathe - Kamas - Adi - Tyagaraja
Padhavini - Chalakabhairavi - Tyagaraja

Side B: Meenakshi Memudhum - Poorvikalyani - Rupakam - Dikshithar

Volume 2
Side A: Ragam / Tanam / Pallavi - Shankarabaranam - Adi

Side B: Ragam / Tananm / Pallavi - Shankarabaranam - Adi
Meevalla Gunadosha - Kapi - Kandu Chapu - Tyagaraja
Chandrasekara - Sindhu Bhairavi - Adi - Anai Vaidyanatha Iyer
Dikku theriyadha - Ragamali - Adi - Bharathiar
Thirupugah - Madhyamvathi - Kanda Chapu - Arunagirinathar

The album - produced in two volumes - has been "conceived and produced" by Shri L Vaidyanathan. The Poorvikalyani piece in Side B of volume I is a reason enough to buy thisalbum--although at the head of the alapana, you'd be prepared to swear it is Panthuvarali. The emphasis on 'da' comes a little later, which is one way of rendering the alapana--first a little intrigue and later the denouement. All the elements of the rendition, alapana, song and swaras do justice to the maestro's stature. On the A side, the Chalakabhairavi piece--quite rare these days--is a meritable inclusion, if only for its didactic value. How often do you get to listen to a leisurely alapana of Chalakabhairavi ? The Padhavini piece, as well as the preceding Kamas bit, are thoroughly enjoyable and are bonus reasons to purchase the album. However, one must say that the Siddi Vinayakam piece, called here by the other name of Shanmukhapriya, viz., Chamaram, is only so-so, and is not quite consistent with the expectations of an artiste as senior as T N Krishnan.

The volume two begins with a RTP, which is actually the 4-raga pallavi, although the inlay card erroneously says 'Sankarabharanam'. It is the famous 'Sankarabharananai azhitodi vadi kalyani darbaril' pallavi that T N Krishnan has played. The non-mention of this in the inlay card is a silly and costly lapse, for the very fact that T N Krishnan has taken such a pallavi is a powerful incentive to buy the album.

However, the RTP itself is not quite 'Paddathi', for it dies within 30 minutes. A RTP of the strength as this one, as any carnatic music lover knows, ought to be rendered in a considerable length. You can't play four alapanas, tanams, pallavi, and swaras all in half an hour and yet call it a 'paddathi' way of doing things.

Even if the insufficient information in the inlay card can be pardoned, the meaningless verbosity in euologising T N Krishnan, cannot. One finds that in Music Today's albums, the contents of the inlay card are poorly written. It is obvious that whoever has written the inlay card's contents, has tried hard to impress the reader with his/her English. But unfortunately the effort falls flat on its face. Just read this: "Violin virtuoso T N Krishnan exudes confidence, cultured decorum, and robust refinement and is a personification of perfected knowledge. There is vibrant emotional warmth, technical precision and perfection in his delightful melodic rendition.........Evocative improvisation and nuances, tantalising subtelety with clarity providing absorbing interest in the listener marks his concerts". What a waste of the critical bit of space !

Now to look at the album itself, one would like to know what the producer's definition of Paddathi is. It is certainly not 'paddathii' to wrap up a four-raga pallavi in just 30 minutes. If you allow only 12 minutes for each of the elements of the RTP, viz., ragam, tanam, pallavi, swaras and tani, the rendition should take at least one hour. Taking up a 4-raga pallavi and rushing it through in half an hour is neither here not there.

Of course, the playing itself is unexceptionable, except perhaps that the artiste has not divided the time among the four ragas equally.. The thodi piece in the ragam is just superb, but Durbar is too brief for enjoyment.

On the second side of Vol II, of all the four good pieces, the best is veritably the Sindhu Bhairavi--very T N Krishnanish.

In sum, the album may not be a bad purchase.