RAVI SHANKAR SUKANYA DAVID MURPHY conductor LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA RAVI SHANKAR SUKANYA Anoushka Shankar says she laughed when her 90-year- tempt her away from her new husband by making him old father Ravi Shankar said he was going to write identical to them; the gods ask Sukanya to choose the an opera. Everything about this great Indian maestro one who is her real husband, and she chooses correctly. was extraordinary, but one of the most extraordinary Thus was the idea of the opera born in Ravi’s mind. things was his ground-breaking determination to bring the musical traditions of East and West into an We in the West don’t need telling about the beauties organic fusion. West Meets East, the LP that he released of our classical tradition, but Yehudi Menuhin became with Yehudi Menuhin in 1967, marked the first time the cheerleader for the music of the East: ‘The most leading classical musicians from different cultures moving and exciting quality of Indian music is the had collaborated on an equal footing. Following that innocence of its rapture,’ he said, ‘the ecstatic and record came three concertos for sitar and orchestra spontaneous delight that binds performers and plus a symphony, but Sukanya – the opera he left audience alike’. David Murphy, who studied with uncompleted, and which the British violinist-conductor Yehudi, says: ‘I became fascinated by the whole idea of David Murphy, with help from Shankar’s wife Sukanya Indian music, and its holistic philosophy of life. and daughter Anoushka, has now completed – reflects I was also seized with the idea that as the world gets Ravi’s boldest stroke of all. smaller – as globalisation speeds up – musics would meet and merge. I was concerned that they should The inspiration for this work dates back to when Ravi’s keep their identity’. One interesting facet of that mother-in-law came to stay in 1995, and it hinged on historic collaboration between Ravi Shankar and Yehudi the fact that her daughter Sukanya – Ravi’s wife – was Menuhin was that neither abandoned his own style three decades younger than him. At one point, her – for example, Yehudi kept his characteristic vibrato. mother commented that she had named her daughter Likewise, Ravi absolutely didn’t want the Western right, and when Ravi asked why, she replied that their singers in his opera to compromise their natural mode situation was like that of a story in the ancient Sanskrit of expression – he didn’t want them to imitate Indian Mahābhārata epic. Since he didn’t know the story, he singers in any way. But with Sukanya, alongside a was told it: a young princess named Sukanya marries Western chorus and orchestra, and Western singer- an older man, who is a sage; twin demi-gods try to soloists, we also get a five-piece Indian instrumental ensemble consisting of sitar, shehnai oboe, tabla, plus own colouring, character, and emotional connotations. mridangam and ghatam percussion. These Western singers, coached by both Murphy and Anoushka Shankar, indeed sing Indian ragas, and have And here there is a huge gulf to be bridged – the the opportunity to improvise as they go. tuning. Western music proceeds according to a scale in which seven sharply-defined whole-step intervals If there is much that is musically new in this work, it’s constitute an octave; North Indian music is microtonal, because Ravi was still discussing new ideas for it with proceeding via an almost infinite number of finely- Murphy as he lay ill for the last time in hospital: he calibrated pitch-gradations from one octave to another. was combining Indian spoken percussion – a kind of ‘And it’s the journey through the microtones which scat singing called konnakol – with a touch of Western is the expressive heart of the music,’ says Murphy. harmony and counterpoint, to explore the Indian ‘Gradually you realise you are hearing all the overtones rhythms in a way that had never been done before. of a note, so that each note becomes, in effect, a chord’. Meanwhile Murphy and his librettist Amit Chaudhuri have had to marry libretto and music, since the libretto This disjunction is indeed a challenge, which Murphy too was far from finished when Ravi passed away. reckons he has met successfully: ‘The singers in ‘The piece has a complex structure, and amazing drive Sukanya don’t sing microtonally, yet the audience and energy,’ says Murphy, ‘and my responsibility has won’t be aware of a clash of tuning systems. But the been the continuity, filling in the gaps. We would play singers will enter into the improvisations.’ And that’s the ragas together – just sitar and violin – and explore another can of worms, given that Western musicians their possibilities, to the point where I would know find it exceptionally difficult to improvise, while Indian how he would develop them’. musicians, who don’t work from scores, improvise all the time. Moreover, those improvisations are cast in The opera begins with a solo sitar playing an alap, a the form of ragas, and a raga represents a concept slow introduction that contains all the main melodic that has absolutely no Western equivalent: it’s most phrases that will run through the work. This moves into accurately described as a map of the melodic terrain a vocal introduction from the Aswini Twins, leading to that lies between ‘scale’ and ‘tune’, and each has its the overture. Then the action begins, with Sukanya and her father plus their entourage singing a celebration of springtime, revelling Indian-style in the sheer beauty of their vocal sound. This is a sound-world in which it is a pleasure to dwell. The vocal lines are simple but gracefully turned, with periodic moments of rich ornamentation, and with Murphy’s beat connecting the disparate elements into an organic whole. This recording is taken from the Royal Festival Hall performance of Sukanya on 19 May 2017, directed by Suba Das. © Michael Church Michael Church is a music critic and editor of The Other Classical Musics: Fifteen Great Traditions, published by the Boydell Press. Alok Kumar as Chyavana, in rehearsal. 2017. © Bill Cooper / ArenaPAL. SYNOPSIS PART I PRESENT DAY INDIA, THE TEMPLE OF THE GODDESS OF LOVE The Aswini Twins – two beautiful, young demigods, Sukanya’s hand in marriage. Sukanya accepts this ayurvedic physicians to the gods – break into the decision, knowing it is for the good of the kingdom but temple and sing a song to the Goddess. They celebrate also feeling that some mystical force is at work. her power and describe love’s effects on the human world, including some of the extreme and absurd As the Aswini Twins continue to look on, a wedding is lengths the lovestruck man can go to. They ask the hastily arranged. Sukanya’s friend sings a song and all Goddess to show them love at its most true. present join in: who can foresee the outcome? In answer to the Aswini Twins’ question, the Goddess of Love transports them through time and space. They witness a young bereaved man named Chyavana meditating in the forest; he is so immersed in his meditation that ants build a nest around him and a huge ant hill is formed. A hundred years pass. One beautiful spring day King Sharyaati goes to the forest to celebrate the new season, accompanied by his daughter Princess Sukanya, her friend and the royal entourage. An intrepid explorer, Sukanya discovers the ant hill and what looks like two jewels glowing from within. She pokes them with her fan and a cry of agony comes from the mound. The glow fades and storm clouds gather. As Chyavana emerges, now an old man, Sukanya, the King and Court realise what has happened. The King, learning of Chyavana’s spiritual stature, promises to make amends, offering Chyavana Susanna Hurrell as Sukanya, in rehearsal. 2017. © Bill Cooper / ArenaPAL. PART II The Aswini Twins, captivated by Sukanya’s beauty, and she must choose which one is her husband. declare their outrage at how events are unfolding and Chyavana overhears the exchange and accepts the how unworthy man is to love and be loved by a woman. challenge on Sukanya’s behalf. As they spy on the life of the now married Sukanya and Chyavana they comment that things would be different The Twins and Chyavana step outside of the house and if a woman had the opportunity to love a god. walk into a lake as Sukanya anxiously watches. After several minutes submerged in the lake the Aswini Twins In the music room at Chyavana and Sukanya’s, the and Chyavana emerge as three identical, god-like young couple listen to a recital. Afterwards, Chyavana teaches men, seemingly in a trance. Sukanya must choose ‘the Sukanya to tune the tanpura while recounting his life only one who walks on earth’. Knowing her husband’s as a student musician. Chyavana describes how Indian soul, Sukanya immediately and correctly identifies and Western music differ as they sing the Raag Yaman Chyavana and they each sing a song for the other. Kalyan together. Sukanya realises she has found peace and contentment in her marriage to Chyavana, much to As the Goddess of Love looks on, Sukanya’s friend, King the disgust of the Aswini Twins who now decide to burst Sharyaati and the royal entourage celebrate the reunion into the story. of Sukanya and the restored Chyavana as they begin their new life together. The Aswini Twins finally return The Twins ask Sukanya why she stays with her aged to the Goddess’s temple, having witnessed a true and husband when, young and beautiful as she is, she could extraordinary human love.