Good accompanying violinist not always a good solo violinist

[ramdas]

I have always wondered why some great violinists do not give solo violin performances.Can anybody throw more light on the technical aspects of skill required for the different roles of the violinist.T.N.Krishnan,MSG.M.Chandrasekharan,Lalgudi Jayraman.Nagai Muralidharan,Dr.M.Narmada.Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi,Mysore Nagaraj,Kunnakudi Vydyanathan & A.Kanyakumari are some of leading artists as accompanying as well as solo violin performers.Some violinists do not give solo performances at all .Why ?. Please give your views.

[Nick H]

One practical reason: lack of opportunity. Very many violinists, very few solo spots. I do wish there were more.

I suspect that you are right though, that not all violinists can fulfil both roles.

It is not so long since, when asked when I could see his solo concert, RKSK shook his head and said it was likely to be quite some time. What changed for him, in just a year or two? I wonder what the difference in his thinking then and now is. We don't have him here to ask, but the experience of a young violinist who has joined the soloists is what we need

[srikant1987]

I don't think Nagai gives a lot of solos. Kunnakudi I believe switched to solos quite early.

Accompanying has a lot to do with performing under boundaries. The shruti is chosen by the main artist, the ragas and songs are chosen by the main artist and so many other things.

In solos, there's much decision-making to be done.

It seems something like going from an employee to an manager/entrepreneur.

The accompanist needs quite some versatility. The soloist needs more of a USP.

[anandasangeetham]

I think accompaniment is much more difficult than playing solo. The reason for nto playing solo may be due to lack of patronage ....
But the great soloists from Kunnakudi, SG, TNK, LGJ, VVS, MC is all due to their long stints of accmpaniment. Varied schools, patantharas, styes, manodharma, and other non musical items as ego etc should have been an excellent education for them to become stalwarts. Acccompaniment calls for split second decision making, at the same time not to overdo or overshadow the main performer, at the same time showcasing one's skills etc is ardous. I have listened to same song sung in different styles by different artists and if the violinist is from an altogether different patanthara, then he learns three different ways of playing the same song. This also has hazard of losing the base patanthara(his own school) and mixing and end up with a kichdi..This could also be a reason for not attempting to do a solo.

For example some yesteryear greats like T Rukmini, Dwaram Mangathayaru, Sikkil Bhaskaran, V Thiagarajan have not given solo concerts(to my limited knowledge)
It takes great effort to straddle both accompaniment and solo playing. Only very few have had the skill and mastery and i feel that the solo mastery is all due to the many many accompaniment done earlier.

[Shyamala Rangarajan]

The other leading violinists - Ganesh Kumaresh brothers - brilliant soloists, seldom accompany other artists. In their career earlier they had accompanied Semmangudi, Balamurali Krishna, Maharajapuram Santhanam, Seshagopalan and others once in a way. Kumaresh, however, accompanies the Veenai Jeyanthi, his wife, nowadays.

[arasi]

Mysore Nagaraj and Manjunath are both adept at accompanying and at solo (duo) performances. I greatly appreciate their playing. Nowadays, I like to hear them as accompanists rather than as a duo. Why? The same as with the very talented Ganesh and Kumaresh whom I have heard only when they were very young. Yes, accompanying puts speed bumps to rapid playing . Of late, I find the fine-playing Mysore Bros going for speedy playing every now and then in their performances which takes away the sowkyam for me. When I first heard Nagaraj play for the Rudrapatnam Bros about twenty odd years ago in New York state, I thought how sweet Nagaraj's violin sounded (it still does).

[srikant1987]

Arasi,

Solos offer more scope for a violinist to go into extremes, shall we say?

Balance, proportion, self-control ... restraint ... are probably things you find important for a soloist too.