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.
- Allegro (in Sonata form) Raga Zila Kafi
- Lento in Raga Ahir Bhairav
- Scherzo in Raga Do Ga Kalyan
- 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.
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