Whatever happened to Illayaraja's symphony?

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Topic started by Swaminathan N (@ infosys.inf.com) on Wed May 14 15:38:06 EDT 1997.
All times in EDT +9:30 for IST.

Responses:

Old responses
From: Fliflo (@ 146.186.113.254) on: Wed May 16 17:24:09 EDT 2001

bm: I standby to what I said..Thanks for doing cut + paste job on behalf of me...
From: bb (@ 216.217.80.201) on: Wed May 16 17:30:45 EDT 2001

aruL, so negative comments is the reason why ir hasn't released his work yet? i am sure there are enough fans in tfmpage + raajangahm who can appeal to him to release the work. can we organize something in this regard? will it work?
From: aruLaracan (@ 134.124.160.10) on: Wed May 16 17:44:48 EDT 2001

bb: :-). we can try. it would require a really really convincing effort to move ir! (i would consider it a success if we could at least make him talk about it! :-) )
From: Swamiji (@ 198.102.112.201) on: Wed May 16 17:48:25 EDT 2001

bb, I doubt. I think IR has been legally handling this case, or thats what I heard. There is some amount of unrelenting stance on both sides of this case, and our persuation will not work. We fans might no doubt love to hear it, but IR wants us all to hear it as a "Symphony" and nothing else.

I don't expect idiots to nod for whatever I say. I don't understand why some people studying in universities have no logical brain. If we had solid evidence to support our cases, we wouldn't have opened this thread at all. All of this would be discussed in an editorial of a newspaper. This thread came about because we wished to gather little info from what people know. Some might be rumors, and some might be guesses. If idiots have problems accepting something, let it be so.
From: Swamiji (@ 198.102.112.201) on: Wed May 16 17:54:23 EDT 2001

"Ayya ungal Kavithayil Pizhai Irukkirathu..." from Thiruvilayaadal is similar to what we are talking here. Did Shivaji accept it in the film?? Did he not call the whole court to hear his testimony? If it were modern times, would that poem be published?
From: aruLaracan (@ 134.124.160.10) on: Wed May 16 17:55:49 EDT 2001

swamiji: aruL pAliththu please cool down. the whole df is nothing but mental autoeroticism, so let everybody have his/her own fun.

i too dont believe ir would give us (or our enthusiasm for his music) any consideration. i just hope that something comes out of his contacts with the budapest sym. hope springs eternal :-)
From: Swamiji (@ 198.102.112.201) on: Wed May 16 18:02:09 EDT 2001

aruL, I am having loads of fun here!! Especially showing off arrogance and making it plain and simple for others to know that it is arrogance! Actually it wasn't personal man. I am sure other people that visit this thread are having fun too!!
From: bb (@ 216.217.80.201) on: Wed May 16 19:11:39 EDT 2001

aruL, with your contacts (gopal prasad and others), can't u open this issue with him? i am sure u guys have more accessibility towards ir than any of us. it's a pity that nothing concrete has come out yet on the position of the symphony.
From: cram (@ 206.103.12.102) on: Thu May 17 07:34:02 EDT 2001

R

Moods of IR is an album IR has been working on for more than a year. He says that the album will be quite western classical in nature, though no one knows when it will see the light of day, if at all. And there is no idea of what happened to his Jaya Jaya He venture. Ore marmama irukku.
From: kk (@ 198.4.92.5) on: Thu May 17 10:50:03 EDT 2001

arularacan,

What plans do you have to market, Moods of IR?.
I would wish it gets marketed better than HTNI and NBW. Atleast on the lines of L Subramanium.
From: UV (@ 134.113.203.137) on: Thu May 17 11:13:58 EDT 2001

IR doesnt have any self confidence as of now that he used to have back in 80s and have lot of acceptance fear as he feels people have moved away from his music. This is pretty obvious from various interviews. Infact in one of his interviews with Anandha Vikatan,he laments to the vikatan,
IR plays some tunes and ask the interviewer,
'Sollunga Sir indha tunesla enna kurai,nan pudiya different styladhan music seyaran' he feels entire TFM has ignored him.
But IR fails miserably to tune to new audience mood,first of all somebody must tell him that his songs audio quality really sucks.With the advent of digital age one must make the best use of it and not keep complaining about it.
And I personally feel he doesnt actually try anything different same formula music.
Tell me guys what kind of different tunes he has come up lately,that he used to do in films like RajaParvai or Koil Pura or Anjali
I have one of IRs kind of last non film album called 24hrs recorded and released from Bombay where the sound quality is really nice.
But if you listen to his tamils film songs quality is very bad.
As far as Symphony i read somewhere in the net a interview with John Scott ,where he says the symphony is as such a wonderful and totaly different but goes on saying IR was taken aback by some critics and thats why he is afraid and John Scott says throught the music ages some of these so called Critics have managed to destroy musical careers of many good artist.
Sorry folk i dont have those links anymore,but will try to get them.
IR comeback as far myself is concerned is never going to happen(sorry to sound negative)
Thats need lot of skillful marketing management
He need to have Big Recording company like BMG or Sony to back him up ,but they are all more towards popular pop music.
Other option is join hands with US or Europe based Orchestra and do some world tour come up with something like Yanni does
only time can tell?
From: Anand (@ 192.11.226.121) on: Thu May 17 11:52:50 EDT 2001

UV,
To say that IR recording quality sucks is not correct. Maybe its not in the lines of ARR but definetly he is using the latest in digital.
The fact of the matter is that his compositions are out of sync with time. It was out of sync with time even in the 80s. Rajaparvai's music is way beyond 80s. He was lucky that the tech gizzmo was'nt available in the 80s for it could have overshadowed his music.
If Andhi mazhai was released today, it would go unnoticed. Thats the sad state. It was popular in the 80s b'cause the envoirnment was'nt polluted.
Infact most of raja's hits in the 80s would have gone down the drain if released today.
I think it is time for him to wind down and get away from film music and write what he feels from his heart.
Let history be his judge.
From: g (@ 12.146.128.14) on: Thu May 17 12:11:21 EDT 2001

cram:

jaya jaya hE project died long time ago.
I heard this from IR himself.
From: comment (@ 12.5.10.153) on: Thu May 17 12:14:27 EDT 2001

UV,
as anand points out, mds of tamilnadu have had acces to the latest, this includes even deva
the has state of the art gadgets.

IR also had good set of gadgets at his disposal. But the difference between the mordern mds is they spend time exploring the gadget, they do little bit more than composing. Also the equipments have become very user friendly these days.
eg:.I can set a delay within 1 mins based on BPM, just touch (tap) screen, like you tap the screen for the timing the efx processor sets the delay speed automatically based on your tap speed,. but 10 years ago we need to calcalute the delays properly , it was hard, cannot waste time on this, studio time was costly.
From: Anand (@ 192.11.221.121) on: Thu May 17 12:37:29 EDT 2001

comment,
For a change we agree. But I only hope that folks from Raajagham can persuade him to stop film music composing. Film music is not worth it. Maybe it pays him but I guess he does'nt need Vitamin M anymore.
Possible things he can do.
==> Start a musical research program which could be affliated to some university. He could be the visiting professor.
==> Write a technincal book on his experiences. Am sure he has a lot to share. This could be the most important document after saamba murthi's excellent Carnatic treatise.
From: cosmician (@ 194.170.1.68) on: Thu May 17 17:30:17 EDT 2001

>>as anand points out, mds of tamilnadu have had acces to the latest, this includes even deva
the has state of the art gadgets.<<<

Guess what..the song "Enakkunu Perandhava...", the first time I heard it, I thought it was definitely IR's composition...only a year later when I saw the album cover was I shocked on seeing Deva's pic on the cover .....until then I'd prided myself on the ability to pick our IR's composition when I heard a song :(
From: cosmician (@ 194.170.1.68) on: Thu May 17 17:33:50 EDT 2001

>>Possible things he can do. <<

YOu are right there, Anand...one thing that always surprises me is why such talented people don't have the thought of passing on their knowledge and wisdom gained to the younger generation...Amritraj did that for Tennis I think...this aspect is very much lacking in our country.
From: (^!^) (@ 207.43.195.201) on: Thu May 17 18:23:46 EDT 2001

Cosmician: For all you know, it might still be an (original) IR composition:-)
From: RameshVenkataraman (@ 203.199.197.83) on: Fri May 18 05:33:48 EDT 2001

UV

This is the link in John Scott's site where he answers a question on IR's Symphony.
http://webhome.idirect.com/~rlevy/current_question.html

Ramesh
-----------------------------------------------------

John Scott's Column

As time permits, John Scott will answer your questions and have the answer
posted here. This week's question comes from Anbu Ramasamy:

Mr. Scott,

I think you are one of the best composers around & my mission now is
to go out and get all your CDs. Please keep composing & keep
releasing your music.

The question I have is somewhat involving you and another person. I
was thrilled when I heard that you were going to conduct the symphony
for Mr. Ilayaraja from India when he was commissioned to write a
symphony. Mr. Ilayaraja is my favorite Indian composer & I couldn't
believe my ears when I came to know another one of my favorite
composers (you!) was going to conduct it. There was a huge
celebration for him in India with all the top personality & you honoring
Mr. Ilayaraja. This was shown in the tele & I was ecstatic to see you on
stage. As you were being garlanded on stage, I also happened have your
CD 'John Scott's Favorites' gracing my glass cupboard with you in
front. I so excitingly pointed out to my family members 'there that's him'
& they really couldn't believe as well.

But till now, this symphony has not been released & there hasn't any
news about it. I hope you can enlighten about its release & the work of
Mr. Ilayaraja.

Anbu(Singapore)

Dear Anbu (Singapore),

Thank you for your very kind comments. I am a very lucky person
because I spend my life doing what I like, which is composing music.

It was very interesting to hear that you witnessed the Ilayaraja
honoring ceremony on TV. I was flown from London to Madras
specially for it. It was an incredible experience and I shall never
forget it. Ilayaraja and I became very close friends and I have tried
to encourage him to get his symphony released. I believe he was hurt
by a critics review, and this is the reason it has not been released. I
had the privilege of conducting the recording sessions with the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra, in London, and we all believe it deserves to
be released. The trouble is that critics are capable of destroying
sensitive artists and have done it throughout the history of music.
The more one knows a piece of music the more one loves it, and the
stupid critics are incapable of judging anything they have never heard
before. They have seldom been right. There is a wonderful book by
Nicolas Slonimsky entitled LEXICON OF MUSICAL INVECTIVE.
It is a history of musical criticism since Beethoven's time. It shows
how the critics have crucified every great composer without
exception! I will contact Illayaraja and tell him about your kind
remarks and that he owes it to us all to make his symphony available.

I send you my best wishes,

John Scott
From: yaaro (@ 205.188.198.176) on: Sat May 19 19:37:13 EDT 2001

I have just returned after attending a performance of Beethoven's 9th symphony by one of the local symphony orchestras.unbeleivable music-composed almost 200 years back by a musician who had gone totally deaf when he composed this symphony.this is called the great choral symphony-there were about 100 choristers accompanying the 100 piece orchestra-so you can imagine the grandness of the piece!all the dfers in western countries , please see that you attend atleast one of these WCM concerts.they do come occasionally to madras-I did attend a few when I was in madras.
after attending this performance I had a few thoughts about raaja's symphony:
IR is not a fool-he is a man who thoroughly knows the grammar of music-i find it difficult to beleive that what he composed was not a symphony.this is one form of WCM where you are allowed to do anything.i wonder what were the feelings of audience when this was played first-the chorus sits in the back ground for almost 45 minutes and then it comes to life -and how!!
this was the first symphony employing a chorus-beethoven deviated from the then accepted grammar.subsequently more symphonies wewre don with choral effects.one of mozart's symphony had a piece which was very much like a concerto.this was also accepted.
Also, RPo rae not fools-they must have been completely satisfied with IR's mettle as a composer before commissioning him to write a symphony.#
and they would not have wasted so much money, effort to record this unless they were satisfied with the quality of music.englishmen are blunt to the point of being rude when it comes to these sort of things.
which brings us to the issue-why ,then,has it not reached the public?
by the way, the odd no symphonies by beethoven are my favorites-they stand on the pinnacle of WCM-even to think IR has had a chance to compose something in this genre of music makes me feel so proud of raaja!

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