Pandit Ravi Shankar's last creation

Oliver Craske in his book "Indian Sun" writes that Pandit Ravi Shankar was commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra to compose his first (& only one, as it turned out) Symphony. He writes that Panditji wanted to look at Western Symphony through the prism of Indian music, like Prokofiev did in his "Classical Symphony", looking at 18th century music through the prism of the twentieth.  

The work contains four movements.

1. Allegro (in Sonata form) Raga Zila Kafi
2. Lento in Raga Ahir Bhairav
3. Scherzo in Raga Do Ga Kalyan
4. Finale in Raga Banjara (Folk melody)

The highlight of the work is the third movement, a scherzo. The Raga here is Do Ga Kalyan, Panditji's own creation. The conductor, David Murphy writes that this Raga omits the second note of the Kalyan scale, but had both the thirds & an augmented fourth. So if C is the tonic, the scale would be C, Eb, E, F#, G, A, & B.

This last work is not only his first Symphony but also contains his last created Raga, Do Ga Kalyan. It was premiered at the Royal Festival Hall on 1st July 2010 with Anoushka Shankar as the solo sitarist. It was also recorded live & issued as a CD.

The Book which rejuvenated a Record

Vikram Seth's novel "An Equal Music" (1999) deals with the fictional Maggiore Quartet & especially with its second violinist Michael Holme. One of his students tells him about Beethoven's String Quintet in C minor Op.104, of which he was unaware. The work has an additional viola added to the standard string quartet.

He starts a frantic but futile search through London record stores. Crestfallen, he orders a printed score from a music library. Then he starts again to search in record shops. Finally, in a store basement, an old man pulls out an East European pressing of the record for him. Delighted, he heads home with his treasured possession. This section of the book is a sheer delight to seasoned record hunters.

The Beethoven Quintet, which was all but forgotten, was given a second lease of life after the publication of the book & the LP & CD sold well. Also a record set was brought out containing all the music pieces mentioned in the book.

Dark Night of the Soul

Though this is title of a poem by the 16th Century Spanish Mystic, St. John of the Cross, the idea is prevalent from the time of  St.Thomas, one of the 12 apostles. When the Resurrection of Christ occurred, he was not present & doubted the experience of his fellow apostles. Then Christ appeared before him & offered to show him his wounds. Then he believed.

St. Teresa of Avila, the 16th century Spanish Mystic, wrote in her book "Interior Castle" that it contains seven "mansions" or stages of spiritual progress. The penultimate mansion, the sixth, offers great trials including physical infirmity to the aspirant.

The next reference occurs in an allegorical way in John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" when Christian is imprisoned in "The Doubting Castle" by Giant Despair.

The nineteenth century St.Therese of Lisieux also suffered the dark night of the soul towards the end of her short life of 24 years.

She was later declared one of only four female Doctors of the Church.

Interestingly, this phenomenon is not confined to Christianity. Swami Vivekananda, the Hindu spiritual leader also experienced it. "M", the author of "The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna" records that the Swami told him that "there is no such thing as God." It should be remembered that this was during the last days of Sri Ramakrishna, who had already provided the Swami with many spiritual experiences.