LP Angel SFO-36806 Sealed Copy.

There is something beatle-esque about this marvelous performance, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Sure, Ravi and the fab four hung out together, and he even traded sitar licks with George, but it's something more than that. The oboe and french horn phrasings sound like they were taken right out of Sgt. Pepper's or Magical Mystery Tour. At any rate, that's really an incidental fact about what is certainly a first rate piece of music. This is the only western-styled concerto for a sitar that I know about, and it is nothing shy of genius. Shankar's playing is certainly impassioned, and the orchestral score is so quirky that you have to give it extra credit points just for being unusual. The concerto begins on a high note, with a crescendo of strings and brass, that soon gives way to a dreamy and ethereal sitar solo. After a bit, a conversation ensues between sitar and orchestra and then the concerto ends with a bold display of musical unison. A strange and unusual effort, but it is high art through and through. Here is one experiment that actually works. G. Newby "Alphonso Kelley"

1. Raga Khamaj
2. Raga Sindhi Bhairavi
3. Raga Adana
4. Raga Manj Khamaj